Changing Destiny
by Bill Gopher
Summary: Now that Buffy, Willow, Faith and the others have found a new home, what will they find and do darker times lie ahead? Sequel to Dark Futures. BuffyFaith, BuffyWillow FaithWillow
1. Chapter 1

**Changing Destiny**

**Book 2 of the Dark Futures series**

Disclaimers – I don't own anything from Buffy, Mutant Enemy or J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm just borrowing them for a while. I'm not making any money off this either.

Authors Note – This story is set late in the First Age, about 1 year prior to the War of Wrath (FA 563) and the destruction and disappearance of Beleriand.

**Chapter 1 **

Moving closer against Faith until she was spooned up against her, Buffy snuggled deeper under the blanket trying to keep warm. It was then that Buffy heard footsteps running towards their tent. A few seconds later a young woman charged into the tent, skidding to a halt inside and Buffy saw it was Kimi Ishihara, the most powerful of the Seers who'd come through the Gate with them.

"Buffy-sama, I am sorry for the intrusion. But I must speak with you."

Sliding quickly out from under the blanket, Buffy quickly dressed in front of Kimi. "Okay Kimi, what's the sitch?"

"I had another Vision tonight…"

"And…?"

"We must head East, there is a darkness coming. One that we must outrun or be destroyed." Kimi said, trying to have Buffy understand the urgency that they move east now, before it was too late.

"Which is what we are doing, Kimi."

"But this time the Vision was different, in this dream the darkness was locked in a battle to the death with the light and everything 'here' will be destroyed Buffy-sama, including us…"

Looking at Kimi carefully, Buffy saw the fear in her eyes. "And this is coming sooner than we thought I'm guessing…yes?" And Buffy saw Kimi nod. "Okay then, it's a couple hours till dawn and we can't go before then. But 2 hours after sunrise we'll be moving. Will that be soon enough for you?"

Nodding again, "I am sorry, I do not mean to presume…."

Buffy held up her hand to hush Kimi. "Kimi, you are not presuming anything. You're coming to me with a warning about our safety. I'd rather lose a little sleep, then die in my bed." Putting her hand on Kimi's shoulder, "You did good." Buffy said with a smile and watched as Kimi bowed deeply before leaving the tent.

**Three days later…**

Buffy called a halt to the column as she saw two of the scouts returning, nodding at Faith Buffy trotted out to meet them. Both girls were breathing heavily and covered in dust. "Found something?"

"Yes," Kailee said before taking a deep drink of water from a waterskin. "There's a forest about 10 miles east of here, it's pretty big. But there's a settlement or a village of some sort there."

"There's a problem though," Sabra added. "There's a large battle taking place, I couldn't see who or what. Just lots of them, and there's a second group bypassing the main fight and going towards that settlement." Sabra accepted the waterskin Kailee was holding for her and took a small swig of water before rinsing her mouth out and spitting the water out.

"Okay, good job you two. Go grab yourself some food." Buffy said dismissing her two scouts.

Heading back towards Faith Buffy signaled for the war council. By the time Aiesha, Willow, Rainne, Sachiko and Yi-min had arrived Buffy already had a plan forming in her mind.

"Saw Kai and Sabra are back, what'd they find?" Faith asked.

"Settlement of some kind and a big battle going on." Buffy answered.

Shaking her head, a tall, young brunette spoke up, "We aren't in any shape to get down and dirty Buffy." Rainne said firmly. "We're no where near to full strength and we're short weapons..."

Looking at Faith who nodded back, "Agreed. I wasn't planning on any fights today Rainne," Buffy chided Rainne who blushed in embarrassment.

"Then what we do then?" Yi-min asked in broken English.

"Avoid them, send the children, wounded and the Witches across the river and continue east along with the 3rd to cover them. The 1st and 2nd will come with Faith and me towards the settlement. Maybe we can barter for some goods and animals there, which we need badly..." Kneeling down Buffy used rocks and sticks to create a map on the ground. "Here's where we are and there's the settlement and the battle just over there. Yi-min, you'll swing wide around here and continue on, this way you're out of the line of fire. Faith and I'll go into the settlement and see if we can get anything. Worst comes to worst we break up and fade away."

"And then what? Get killed piecemeal?" Willow asked angrily.

Buffy was taken aback by Willow's anger. "Uh, not quite Will. We'll slip through the forest and meet you guys on the other side, by the river."

"No Mistress Buffy," Aiesha Bond, a dark skinned Witch and second only to Willow in Power spoke. "I do not think that is wise. We should avoid all contact for now until we have ourselves back up to strength. The Coven took many losses as well as the Slayers..."

Shaking her head 'no', "I disagree Buffy, we need supplies, draft animals, wagons even. But we can't hide forever here." Sachiko Yomura, a tall, lithe and deadly fast young woman.

"Faith?" Buffy asked.

"Chiko's right. We don't know this world any and we can't keep hiding, not when we're running out of supplies. I say we go with your plan, B."

"Alright then, Sachiko, Rainne get the 1st and 2nd ready. Yi-min, take the your people and start moving everyone else East along the river." Buffy stood up, an eager gleam in her eyes.

Willow waited until everyone else was gone, "And I suppose you're going to lead this little expedition from the front, right?"

One eyebrow went up, "No, my solo days are behind me Will." Buffy said as she stepped in towards Willow and put her hand on Willow's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.

Willow watched as Buffy walked away, "Don't get yourself killed on me Buffy," Willow whispered.

**30 minutes later…**

Walking up to the top of the small rise just outside the settlement, Buffy smelled something just on the wind and pulled out a pair of Zweiss binoculars from the case on her hip, looking towards the forest settlement. Focusing them Buffy saw smoke and flame coming from the settlement and then an ugly creature with black skin, patchwork armour and a sword chasing a little girl. A moment later Buffy saw the demon cut the girl down and almost dropped the binoculars. "God, no!" Stuffing the binoculars in the case and moved back down to where the Faith and Sachiko were waiting for her.

"Change in plans. Some demons are slaughtering the children over in that settlement. Faith, I want you and Rainne to take the 2nd and move them North just in case anyone else comes in." Turning to Sachiko, "Drop everything except the weapons, we're going to kill every demon we find. I'm not leaving anyone to be slaughtered, especially children." Buffy's tone brooked no discussion as she turned away, dismissing them and stripping off her own gear.

Walking to the front of the 1st, "We don't know who those people are, but I know one thing, children are being hunted down like rabbits and slaughtered over there! ARE WE GOING TO LET THAT HAPPEN?!?"

"NO!!" came the massed reply.

"THEN LET'S GO KICK SOME DEMON ASS!!!!!!" Buffy roared and drew the Katana she'd carried with her during the entire war. Buffy and the 1st, which had 100 Veteran Slayers moved into a fast run towards the settlement, with each Slayer looking forward to doing what they were born to do, kill demons and protect the innocent.

Grishmalk paused as he felt the ground rumbling and pulled the sword from the Elvish woman's back before looking around when he saw a cloud of dust coming towards them. "FORMATION YOU MAGGOT RIDDEN SLIME!!! GET INTO FORMATION!!" Grishmalk roared as he fought to get his unit ready for the Elves that were headed this way.

He had just started to get some of his fellow Orcs to stop when he saw that they weren't Elves at all, but women, girls really and Grishmalk laughed as he realized he'd get to play with some more females.

Buffy ran into the settlement and saw fires and smoke everywhere. But just ahead Buffy saw about 20 demons in a laughable formation and charged towards them. "KILL THEM ALL!!!!!!!!" Buffy yelled and drew her Katana back, her first victim was a demon who was laughing hysterically right until her Katana sliced through his neck and his head flew off. Then Buffy was too busy to pay attention as she crashed into the formation of demons with the rest of the 1st right behind her. Her blade flashed out left and right and each time a demon fell...

Sachiko watched as Buffy charged headlong towards the only formation of demons and cursed, How was she supposed to be Buffy's 'unofficial' bodyguard if she ran into the thick of trouble all the time! "Come on!!!" Sachiko drew her ancestral katana in a fast draw, disemboweling the first demon she came to, her second swing severed the arm of a demon that was about to hit Buffy from behind and everything became a chaotic jumble of images as she fought to kill every demon she saw and protect Buffy.

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**1 Hour Later **

A hand fell on her shoulder and Buffy started to bring her sword up, only to see it was a gore covered Sachiko. "Sorry 'bout that." Buffy said tiredly and looked for a clean cloth to wipe her sword clean before sheathing it. "I think you need a bath Sachiko." Buffy said with a grin. "We need..."

"Already being done Buffy. I've detailed one platoon to cleaning up the mess and gathering up the weapons and armour as well. Faith's reported the main army is moving this way and that they'll be here in a little over 2 hours."

"How many?" Buffy asked as she leaned against a broken wall.

"A lot," Sachiko replied.

"Okay, get the survivors out of here and moving towards the column. Detail a squad to lead them. Well this didn't work out exactly as planned..." Buffy admitted.

"You had a plan?" Sachiko asked dryly.

"Ha ha!" Buffy said before sticking her tongue out. "Seriously though, have..." Buffy paused as she tried thinking of the Witch's name.

"Rasha" Sachiko prompted.

"Yeah, have Rasha contact Yi-min and move the 3rd here along with Aiesha, Willow and the rest of the Coven."

Willow had fumed as she felt Buffy go into a berserker rage, "Damn stupid, stubborn, predictable, beautiful, sexy Slayer!!!" Willow cursed under her breath. Fortunately she'd kept the Coven together along with the 3rd to dig Buffy out of whatever trouble she was going to find. By the time Rasha had contacted them, Willow already had every one moving towards the settlement and she was only 30 minutes away.

Aiesha heard Willow's mutterings. "Something you want to tell me Willow?"

"Huh?" Willow asked not understanding her fellow Sisters sometimes. "No, should there be?"

"Just wondering if you were going to finally hit Buffy over the head and drag her into the bushes the way you're constantly undressing Buffy as you watch her."

"And you have a mind that lives in the gutter Aiesha," Was Willow's reply.

"My boyfriend used to say that too!" Aiesha said with a waggle of her eyebrows. "And he never complained either!"

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"So what are we looking at Faith?" Willow asked, now that all the leaders of the war council were present.

"At least 1500 demons, what looks like a clan of rock trolls and some sorta big dragons, but without wings and they've got them wearing chains." Faith said. "There's something else further back, but we couldn't get a good look at it. But I'm betting it's whatever is leading those demons."

"It could be worse," Buffy said cheerfully.

"Goddess, and how could that happen?" Willow asked.

"We could be surrounded."

"I feel so much better now B, thanks." Faith said dryly, knowing that this was Buffy's way of dealing with the stress.

"So what can we do to even this out?" Sachiko asked.

"Pull back into the forest and set up traps in the town and slow them down. We can't take them all on at once, but if we break them up, they'll just be easier bites for us to swallow." Turning to Yi-min, "Yi, do you still have those claymores?" Buffy asked and saw Yi-min nod 'yes'. "Good, set up the claymores inside the town, it's open enough that we'll get more of them than if we used them in the forest. Sachiko," Buffy said to the tall commander of the 1st. "Have Shannon open up her little magic bag of tricks and start setting up some traps in the forest. Pit traps, bungee pits, whatever she can get done. We've got 2 hours to get a nice welcome setup for these demons."

Willow waited for everyone to leave before speaking her mind, "You need to let Dawn go, Buffy. You're going to get yourself and a lot of people killed if you don't." Willow said as Faith closed the door to the room leaving them alone.

"I don't have time for this Will. I have a demon army coming in less than 2 hours."

"That's a load of crap Buffy, those girls will follow you into hell if you ask them to, but if you don't let go of your anger over losing Dawn you're going to get them all killed one day." Willow watched as Buffy turned away and grabbed Buffy by her arm, pulling her around. "Damnit Buffy Summers!! I have loved you for over 12 years and you will not walk away from me!" Willow yelled before pulling Buffy against her and kissing her for all she was worth. When she broke the kiss off finally, Willow left the room.

Buffy was shocked at first when Willow kissed her and easily deepened the kiss, when Willow pulled away Buffy felt a little numb. "Wow! Some kiss that was Will!" Buffy said to an empty room.

Faith walked back in the room to find Buffy with a silly look on her face and hid a smile. "You coming or do you have a date?"

"Uhmm, no. I'm good." Buffy took Faith's hand in her own as they walked out of the room. _I can't feel that way about Willow, I'm in love with Faith! Yes that's it, I'm just tired and this'll all go away... _Buffy ended her mental chat, satisfied she'd worked it out.

**Continued in Chapter 2**


	2. Chapter 2

**

* * *

Chapter Two **

**3 Hours Later...**

Buffy watched from her perch in the trees with the binoculars and smiled as she saw the demons in the front ranks start to break and run as they saw the first 'gift' they'd left them. Guess they didn't like finding the heads of their comrades on stakes, hehehehehe! Buffy thought grimly. The larger demons yelled, whipped and finally got order back after killing several of the smaller demons.

Buffy saw the 'dragons' halt outside the forest along with the Rock Trolls, while the black demons broke up and started searching through the settlement. The sound of breaking doors was clear to her, and Buffy counted _5, 4, 3, 2, 1..._

A second later multiple explosions ripped through the settlement followed by high-pitched screams and bellows. The explosions destroyed the remaining buildings that were left standing and Buffy signaled a thumbs up down to Tof, who was below to begin Phase 2.

"DRAW! FIRE!" Buffy heard Faith's voice and 100 arrows arced up into the air from the forest and towards black demons that had pulled back to a 'safe' distance. Buffy grinned coldly as she saw a good amount of hits from the arrows.

"DRAW! FIRE!" Came Faith's voice once again and the black demons backed up further from the settlement while the dragons and Rock Trolls just ignored any of the arrows that hit them as the arrows shattered on impact.

"That's right, you keep backing up. Right to where we want you!" Buffy murmured.

"DRAW! AIM!..." Faith's voice once more echoed and the demons broke this time running to get out of range of the arrows.

Buffy watched and just as the demons bunched up Buffy detonated all the remaining claymores they had at once. In a thunder of flame, smoke and screams Buffy's vision was blocked, but when the smoke cleared a minute later every demon within a 50-yard radius was dead. The explosions leaving only small pieces of the dead and every other demon outside the kill zone in shock at the complete and utter destruction of their comrades in the blink of an eye. With that what order was left in this part of the army disintegrated as they fled in all directions for their lives, throwing their weapons and armour away as they ran.

A great cheer went up from everyone inside the forest as they saw the first part of the demon army break and run.

The dragons seemed to wander around, now that their handlers were gone and wondering what they were supposed to do. Hungry and free they started looking for food when they saw the Rock Trolls...

Jumping from branch to branch down the tree Buffy landed at the bottom and walked over to Willow, "Now it's your turn Will." Buffy said as the reserves of the demon army were being sent forward. Buffy fought the urge to kiss Willow right there and instead clasped her hands behind her back, never knowing that Willow was fighting the same urge to kiss her.

Willow looked out and saw that 3 of the dragons were dead, killed by the Rock Trolls, but all of the Rock Trolls were either dead or had fled, as the remaining 2 dragons fought over the rights to the spoils.

Willow fell back, exhausted. "It's not going to work Buffy, we can't hold them back any longer. We hurt them, but there's something back there countering our spells and we can't face it and hold the lesser demons off at the same time."

"That's okay Will, we'll take it from here." Buffy said confidently walking close to the fighting and into her command post. Using hand signals, Buffy passed the message it was the Slayers turn now. Buffy had thought about putting the 1st (and herself) in the center of the line, but after Willow's talk with her Buffy had started to wonder if maybe Willow might be right. So it was the 2nd that held the front instead. Buffy signaled a runner and Buffy recognized the red-haired girl that ran over. "Charlie, tell Willow when we engage the black demons, it'll be up to her to take out the demon spell casters. Okay?"

"Yes Miss Buffy." Charlie said before dashing off.

Buffy watched as the first wave of demons hit her line, but the 2nd held firm, throwing them back with heavy losses. That'll just be them testing us, see if we've got any holes they can exploit. Then they'll open it up and start pulling out the bigger guns because they'll have figured out that we're a lot smaller than they are. Pacing back and forth from behind, Buffy watched as Faith and Rainne threw back the next 4 attacks as every instinct screamed at her to run up there to the front. Steeling herself against the urge Buffy paced even faster, but stayed back, finally Buffy saw the 2nd begin to bend in under the sheer numbers and a second group of 4 Rock Trolls pushed Faith and the 2nd back.

Buffy knew Faith was losing a lot of good people under the dual attack of fighting both the demons and the magic attacks, but it was all in Willow's and Aiesha's hands now. If they didn't find and neutralize the demon spellcasters, then everything was lost.

Buffy had been awake for the last 16 hours straight, at first running the battle from behind and then as they were pushed back leading the charges to give the 2nd time to reorganize or pull back. Seeing a lull as the demons pulled back 'again' and regrouped, Buffy sat down on the ground, her back up against a tree. Within moments Buffy was asleep, her sword resting across her legs and her head drooping down.

"HUH!" Buffy said startled as she woke to the touch of someone's hand on her shoulder. "Will? What's up?" Buffy asked as she fought to clear the cobwebs in her head out.

"We've got them. The next time they open up we'll be able to get them." Willow said proudly of her Coven who'd worked tirelessly and frantically, driven by the screams of the dead and dying Slayers.

"Good," Buffy said as she splashed poured some water over her head and felt the cold water clear her head up. "Good, good. Get ready then," Buffy saw Willow turn to leave. "Will, good job..."

"Thank me after we get through this and we'll call it even," Willow said before leaving.

The attack happened without any warning this time and Buffy saw the remnants of the 2nd and 3rd buckle and bend under the sudden and heavy assault. The demons had lost all of their Rock Trolls and the one Dragon they'd convinced to go into the forest had gone berserk, killing more demons than Slayers as it fought its way out of the forest. But even now the demons still had the numbers...

Quickly Buffy had Sachiko ready the 1st to move up when two things happened; the first thing Buffy saw were several magical explosions from behind the demon lines out of the forest and then Buffy saw Faith go down under a swarm of demons. Charging alone towards the front Buffy drew her katana, cutting the arm off a demon about to stab a Slayer from behind. Buffy became a whirlwind of death as she fought to get to where she last saw Faith.

Buffy had fought her way through all the demons who'd been in her way to Faith and came face to face with a red scaled demon over 8' feet tall, carrying a whip in one hand and a large sword in the other. "Get out of my way tubby!" Buffy snarled. The demon's only response was to bellow and roar before the whip slashed at her face and Buffy easily sidestepped it. With another roar Buffy saw the demon close with her, bringing it's giant sword straight down towards her. Not bothering to block it, Buffy slid to the side, avoiding it even as her sword licked out and cut through the heavy scale deep into its side before slicing up the back of the demon's arm. Soon enough Buffy found that this one wasn't as dumb as his smaller cousins and quickly enough the demon learned to stop using overpowering attacks. Instead it used the whip to keep her off-balance and the sword to attack her when she was avoiding the whip. But Buffy was a faster learner than scaly here and she'd figured out the demons plan by the second attack.

Breathing heavily Buffy backed off to give herself some breathing room, the two of them had been going at this for a while and as badly as she'd cut the demon up, she herself was covered in whip cuts and a lucky blow that almost gutted her and instead gave her a long gash over her stomach up to her rib cage.

Determined to change the odds Buffy closed with the demon and as it snapped the whip towards her Buffy brought her katana up in front of her, letting the whip wrap itself around the blade. Shifting her grip on the pommel and as she expected, the demon pulled back hard on the whip. Letting go, the sword flew toward the demon...blade first.

With a loud bellow of pain the katana sank to the hilt in the demon's chest and Buffy leapt up with both feet into the demon's chest, knocking it onto its back. Staying on top Buffy pulled the katana free and brought it down on the arm holding the whip with all her strength, severing the arm at the elbow. Bringing her blade back to finish the demon Buffy heard Faith yell off to her left and hesitated. Unfortunately the demon used that split second to catch Buffy on the side of her head with the flat of its sword that sent her flying through the woods to land 50' feet away.

Stunned, Buffy fought to get to her feet and wobbled as she stood up but there just 10 feet away Buffy saw the most beautiful sight in the world. A really pissed-off Faith wielding a spiked mace in one hand and a sword in the other as she waded through a knot of demons, blood and limbs flying everywhere.

The unsteadiness Buffy felt from that hit from the demon finally passed and Buffy fought her way next to Faith. With a quick grin the two Slayers moved and fought in a perfect dance of death to everything that crossed their path and didn't run away fast enough.

During some particularly heavy fighting Buffy found herself once again separated from Faith and standing alone next to a large tree. The fighting hadn't quite completely ended everywhere as Buffy could still hear some fighting going on, so much as nothing wanted to face her. Looking around Buffy saw the ground was covered with the bodies of the demons they'd killed and all too many of her sister Slayers. Leaning heavily against the tree, Buffy felt her strength slipping away as everything turned grey and the ground came rushing up towards her face, the last thing she heard was the sound of horns in the distance…

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Sachiko found Buffy lying face down in a heap on the forest floor and flipped her over. A quick glance told her nothing as Buffy was so covered by blood and gore it was hard to tell what might be hers. "AIESHA!!" Sachiko yelled and a minute later Aiesha was by Buffy's side.

"Sweet Goddess!" Aiesha swore as she saw pulled Buffy's clothes off and saw the numerous wounds on her body. Quickly Aiesha had her pouch opened and was taking out what she needed.

Sachiko saw Yi-min walk over covered in blood and guided her away, More demons? Sachiko asked in Cantonese.

I'm not sure. We're only getting glimpses, but they have bows and they're making pincushions out of the black demons. What do you want to do?

Have everyone pull back, gather up all the wounded. But don't do anything to these newcomers, whoever they are let's let them focus on the demons and not us. Sachiko said and saw Yi-min nod before leaving back towards the front.

Sachiko turned her attention back to Aiesha who was working still on Buffy. "Can't you do any magick spells and heal her?" Sachiko asked, worried.

"Too drained, along with all the others. Tracking those spellcasters down and taking them out took a lot out of everyone. So healing is back to the good old days of bandages and sewing." Aiesha replied, never taking her eyes off of her work as she sewed one cut up.

"Oh," Sachiko said before leaning down and picking up Buffy's sword and sheath. "Do whatever you can Aiesha," Sachiko said before walking away and saying a small prayer while leaving the Witch to her work.

---------

Faith heard a light sound behind her and turned to see a cloaked figure in green and brown. He started speaking in a lyrical language Faith couldn't make heads or tails of. "Wha??" Faith said putting her hand on the pommel of her sword and raising her other hand to signal the other Slayers to stop.

The stranger continued to speak in the same flowing tongue, but Faith had the feeling that these weren't the bad guys. Signaling, a runner ran over to her. "Go get Willow and bring her here." Faith told the young boy who took of in a dash of speed.

A few minutes later Faith saw a tired Willow walking over and make a wide circle around the stranger and over to Faith's side.

"So who's this?" Willow asked, seeing the stranger was dressed all in browns and greens that would let them blend into the forest easily. But his face was completely covered by a large hood he was wearing.

"That's what I want you to find out. Do you have a language spell or something you would whip up for us? I'd like to know what this guy has been gabbling about for the last hour."

"Maybe, give me a few minutes and we'll see." Willow replied.

Faith watched as Willow walked in front of her and their 'guest' and made some strange gestures, but it was the Power she could sense being called up that made her hair stand on end. When it was done Faith could hear the man speaking.

"...and we wish to know who it is that has put their lives in jeopardy to save our women and children from the Urk's."

"Urk's?" Faith asked. "What's an Urk?"

"The demons we were fighting, Faith. They aren't and they're called Urk's." Willow answered.

"Lord Phaerhuinë has requested you to come to him so that he might see the leader of the warriors who risked so much for those they didn't know."

"And who are you?" Faith asked abruptly, not quite willing to trust too easily after their flight here.

Bowing, "I am Galengaladh, son of Glandelah. I will be your escort to Lord Phaerhuinë."

Seeing no other options, Buffy was out cold for at least a day and the rest of the Slayers could use the time to regroup and pull out of here while this 'meeting' was going on Faith nodded. "Okay Galengaladh, take me to your leader," Faith chuckled a bit at that last.

**Continued in Chapter 3**


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note - In case anyone is curious, there is an un-named forest in the far southern part of the Misty Mountains on the western side and about 100 miles NE of Isengard. That is where the Slayers are calling home. Here's a link to the gorgeous and detailed and scaleable map that was used - http://www.lords-of-blah.nl/mearth/mearthmap.html 

Author's Note 2 - Thanks to all for the reviews (both good and bad)!

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**Chapter Three **

**Ederian **

**Laer (June) 12th , FA 562**

Faith found herself blindfolded and walking a ways when the blindfold was removed and she was standing in an open room. A small dais with a stone throne stood on it, while the rest of the room held a series of chairs mixed among the trees that grew openly in the room. Sitting on the throne was a brown-haired man, with fair skin, pointed ears and silver eyes. He was dressed in clothes similar in color to the guards that stood around him, but of a much finer make as well as the nobles or councilors like him that stood nearby. All of them were armed with swords and daggers while the guards were also carrying long bows.

"So, you are the leader of the women that came to Rhorbad and saved many of our women and children? Why have you come here?" Faith heard their king ask.

"We're just travelers, Lord Phaerhuinë. We saw the people in trouble and only wanted to help. We aren't trying to get involved in your little war or whatever it is you have going on for yourselves."

"I find it difficult to believe that you helped Elves out of the goodness of your hearts." Phaerhuinë said doubtfully.

Elves? Great! Where's a nerd when you need them? Faith griped mentally before continuing. "Why not? Is it so hard to believe that anyone seeing women and children slaughtered would do nothing? And I thought I was cynical."

"I have watched as the armies of the Kings of Men slaughtered all in the name of the their Master, Morgoth. And yet you want us to trust you so easily?"

"Not really caring if you trust us or not. We did what we did because it was the right thing to do. We've returned to you the ones we saved. Now we need some food and medical supplies to treat all of our wounded and we'll be on our way."

Phaerhuinë sat back and carefully considered the words of this warrior, looking her over carefully. She was tall for one of the race of Men, fair skinned and dark of hair and eyes, as many of the Noldor Elves were. And her clothes were unlike any he had seen before; her pants were a mottled green and brown with large pockets while her shirt was a deep blue that she wore under a heavy black jacket that was nothing like anything he had ever seen. Her weapons had been brought to him, the sword was slim and graceful and yet different from the Elvish sword at his hip.

"You have said truth to me today, yet with even what you have done I must think of the safety of my people first. You will stay here as our 'guests' and we will share what provisions for food and healing as we may. But you are here on our sufferance until we have decided what to do with you."

Rolling her eyes, "Thrilling kingy, really. Thanks so much, now if you don't mind I have people I need to check on."

Raising his hand to silence the angry replies at the female warriors sarcastic tone, "Galengaladh, you will be my liaison for these warriors and what they might need. Take her back to her people and handle them for now."

"Her behaviour was outrageous, my lord!" and that was just the beginning of the angry comments from his councilors and advisors as soon as the woman was gone.

"Enough! She is obviously tired and injured and angry at what she feels to be ill-treatment. I will survive her barbed tongue with only minor injuries. The real question is who are they and what they are really doing here." Phaerhuinë said as he looked out.

"It just be a trick of Morgoth's to have us drop our guard and destroy us," came the reply from Vardathorwen, the head of his personal guard.

"And yet they came to our aid, many of them dying to protect those that they did not know. They are not of Morgoth, my Lord. But fleeing some war that they had lost from further West, perhaps from Beleriand." Pennechorion, his War Captain suggested.

"Many of them do not look like any of the race of Men we have seen before. For now, let them rest and tend to their wounded and dead. Watch them Captain, but do not reveal yourselves and see if they are what they seem or something else."

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**Misty Mountains**

**Laer (June) 14th , FA 562**

**Slayer camp, Mid-Afternoon 2 Days Later **

Galengaladh arrived at the strangers' camp and quickly sought out Fayth, as Lord Phaerhuinë urgently wanted to speak with her. "Lady Fayth, Lord Phaerhuinë requests for you to come with me at this time. He has some things he wishes to discuss with you at this time."

Faith was walking around the camp, checking on how her backup plan was moving when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Annoyed, Faith was about to tear a strip off of someone when she saw it was Galen…again. "What do you want Galen? I've got things to do and I don't have time to play 20 questions with you." Faith said as she barely reigned in her temper.

"As the leader of your people, Lord Phaerhuinë has 'requested' your presence." Galengaladh said firmly.

"Fine, then he can wait. Because I need to check in on Buffy." Faith said stubbornly as she continued to walk towards where Buffy was lying in the coma she'd slipped into 2 days ago.

"You may check on this 'Buff-fee' later. Lord Phaerhuinë wishes to see you now!" Galengaladh said as he put his hand on Faith's shoulder.

Faith's temper snapped after running on almost no sleep for the last 2 days.

Galengaladh was shocked, when with a speed not heard of in the race of Men the girl had moved in a blur, twisting his arm up and behind his back to where he felt it would break.

"Lord Phaerhuinë can kiss my ass as far as I'm concerned about his 'wishes'. I said I'm going to check on Buffy…now!" Faith's voice dropped to a soft tone. "You can either accept that or I'll feed you your fucking arm!!" Faith finished with a snarl.

Seeing no other choice, "Very well. Let us go see this 'Buff-fee' first." Galengaladh said reluctantly.

As she walked over Faith saw someone new over by Buffy, someone who wasn't Aiesha or Red. "Is there something I can help you with?" Faith asked as she stepped in front of the newcomer.

"Forgive me my lady, I am Vardathoron, a Healer and Lord Phaerhuinë sent me to help your injured as thanks for what you had done."

Faith looked at the young woman, her white hair and silver eyes were slightly unnerving, but her Slayer senses told her the girl spoke the truth. "It woulda been nice if you'd have told someone, everyone's a bit on edge right now..."

"I spoke to your Healer, Willow, when I came here this morn. Accept my apology for not seeking you out first." Varda turned her attention to the young blonde on the pallet. "She had been sore hurt, for many of the servants of Morgoth poison their weapons to better kill their enemies. But she will pull through and thrive, my Lady."

Faith let go of the breath she had been unconsciously holding. "Thank you. Buffy means a lot to me..." Faith started saying before stopping herself from saying anything she'd regret. "Alright Galen, take me to Kingy."

The length of time for her trip after being blindfolded was the same, Faith noted. It was possible that they had her walking in circles; the building she'd been in was different in style from the ones in the town. This building had a different and older feel to it. The blindfold was removed and Faith saw the open roofed building once again. "So what've you decided?" Faith asked, taking the lead on this, rather than waiting.

"You are not servants of Morgoth, that we have decided, Faith. But the question remains who or what are you fleeing from and why are you here?" Phaerhuinë asked from his throne.

"We're survivors of a war we didn't want or start, from those we had sworn to protect with our lives. And what we want now is to find someplace to call home again."

"Who was it that would drive such warriors as yourselves away?" Phaerhuinë asked, truly curious as to who would be stupid enough to make war on these 'Slayers'?

"A place so far you could not understand Phaerhuinë. Now if you will, I am too tired to play 20 questions anymore," Faith said wearily, never seeing Galengaladh nod behind her.

"One last question; my scouts have reported that you and the red-haired Healer are capable War Captains for your people, we have not seen your true leader yet. Where is he? Has he fallen in battle?"

Faith's face hardened, "And what would you do if you were in my shoes and I asked you that question Phaer? Would you answer that if things were reversed? Somehow I don't think so."

"If it meant the lives of my people, then yes, I would." Phaerhuinë turned the question around. "But go and rest, Faith and take care of the women you worry for so. We will talk again, and perhaps with less heat in a few days."

Faith nodded her thanks before she was blindfolded, yet again, and taken back to their camp.

Buffy opened her eyes and saw the darkened sky through the tops of the forest trees above her. The next thing she noticed was the weight on her legs, leaning up to see better Buffy groaned as she felt the stitches in her side pull, but she saw the 'weight' was none other than Faith.

"Hey sleepy head!" Buffy said as she saw Faith's eyes open.

--------------

**Laer (June) 16th, FA 562 **

**2 Days Later...**

Buffy saw Varda wasn't going to budge on her getting up and walking around, not that she intended to lose this argument today! "Look here Varda, I'm better, it doesn't hurt to move anymore and that means my Slayer healing has kicked in finally. I'm not going sparring, just a walk so that everyone knows I'm not dead!"

"My Lady Buffy, I will not allow it! I am your Healer and I will say when you are fit to walk and strut around as if you were some peacock!" Vardathoron said just as stubbornly, refusing to budge an inch. She had been charged to save the life of this 'Buff-fee' and she was not going to let her undo all the hard work and stitches she'd done!

"Argghh! For the hundred millionth time! One my name is not Lady Buffy, just Buffy and two, I'm better now and three, I'm leaving whether you want it or not!"

Pulling out her last card to play, "Then you will walk about naked my Lady, for I have had all your clothes removed from here." Vardathoron said with her arms crossed and a smug look on her face.

Leaning back down in the pallet, "You fight dirty. I like that!" Buffy said before closing her eyes as sleep claimed her.

**Continued in Chapter 4**


	4. Chapter 4

**Changing Destiny**

Author's Note - In case anyone is curious, there is an un-named forest in the far southern part of the Misty Mountains on the western side and about 100 miles NE of Isengard. That is where the Slayers are calling home. Here's a link to a gorgeous, detailed and scaleable map that was used - http://www.lords-of-blah.nl/mearth/mearthmap.html

Author's Note 2 - Also **FA**, stands for First Age and **SA **stands for Second Age

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**Chapter Four **

**Laer (June) 20th, FA 562**

**4 Days Later...**

**Slayer campsite, Early Afternoon**

When Galengaladh had returned to the came, this time he was to bring back both Lady Faith and Lady Buffy to Lord Phaerhuinë, something he did not look forward to. Quickly Galen found both women together by the fire and eating. "I come at Lord Phaerhuinë's command for both Lady Faith and Lady Buffy to meet him today at their pleasure."

Buffy eyed the 'messenger' carefully, seeing the well crafted armor he wore and weapons by his side. "Let us finish our meal before we travel to meet your lord, messenger."

-------

Quickly enough Buffy and Faith arrived at the building that Faith had described to her, the room had no roof and was a combination of stonewalls and nature intertwined. Large trees made their home inside the building, even as she saw a stone dais towards the back of the room, with a throne that seemed to be part tree and part stonework. Sitting on the throne Buffy saw a man, An Elf really! her mind added, who would be tall if he stood up, with dark brown hair, silver eyes and fair skin. His face carefully hid whatever he was thinking. Another elf, similar in build and height, stood just to the left of the throne but armoured unlike almost all of the others in the room who wore green and brown leathers.

"So, you have 'called' us here Lord Phaerhuinë. What is it that you want? I have many Sisters to tend to and tasks to complete before we can continue our journey East." Buffy said as she stood slightly in front of Faith.

"It is true then, you are the leader of your people. I had suspected as much." Phaerhuinë said enigmatically. "For the sacrifices you made for us, those who were complete strangers, I would thank you. You saved many of the children of the Laiquendi. We had not thought that Morgoth would strike at us through our children and women and a terrible blow it would have been if it had succeeded."

"So I will repeat myself, why have you called us here? If it was only to thanks us for what we did, then we will accept your thanks before we go." Buffy said before turning to leave.

"Thanking you is but one reason I called. Please sit." Signaling, 2 chairs were brought into the room. Phaerhuinë saw the unspoken conversation between the two women before they sat and added it to the growing number of questions he had about these people, such as where were their men? "I realize that we have been less than hospitable in our treatment of you and I apologize, but in these times, aid unlooked for oft does not come without a price."

Buffy nodded, acknowledging Phaerhuinë's apology, "So what is it that you want to know?"

"Many things, but I believe you would not tell me. So let us start with the smaller things and concern ourselves with the larger ones later. First though, let me properly introduce myself to you. I am Phaerhuinë, Lord of the Misty Woods." Stepping down from his throne Phaerhuinë walked closer to the leaders of the warriors, a chair was brought out and placed near them. "So tell me, other than saving strangers you don't know, what is it that brings you here?"

"Looking for someplace to call home, Lord Phaerhuinë of the Misty Woods," Buffy said, careful to include Phaerhuinë's title. "That is what we are doing, wherever 'here' is."

Both eyebrows went up on Phaerhuinë face. "That is an odd thing to say, my lady. Here, is Arda of course. I can see that we have much to discuss. First though I would ask your name so that I know that who I am speaking to."

"Buffy Summers, Slayer."

----------

**2 Hours Later...**

Faith was pacing outside after leaving, If Buffy doesn't come out of there soon, I'm either going to start pounding on someone or go in and drag her out of there! Faith's very wish was answered a minute later as Buffy walked out of the building. "So B, what's the word?" Faith said as she bounced on her toes with excess energy.

A serious look on her face, "Pass the word, we've found our home." Buffy broke out into a large smile, before losing her balance and almost falling down before catching herself.

"Buffy, are you serious?" Faith asked before seeing Buffy almost fall. By Buffy's side in a blink of an eye, Faith had her arm wrapped around Buffy's waist, supporting her. "Back to bed for you B." Faith said with a look that brooked no argument.

"As long as you're in it, that's fine with me." Buffy said as she waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Faith noticed that when they were taken back to camp, they weren't blindfolded, but she waited till they were safely back to say ask any of the 10,000 questions running through her mind.

Sitting down on her pallet, Buffy refused to answer any of Faith's questions until all of the others arrived. Willow arrived first, looking a little tired, along with Aiesha. Yi-min had her right arm in a sling, both bones broken when an Orc had hit her with a mace. Rainne barely had a scratch on her, but there were deep circles under her eyes. Sachiko, Buffy's ever-present shadow showed up last, but looking like she'd slept for a week in a 4 star hotel, Buffy noted with a slight bit of annoyance.

"I met with Phaerhuinë today, and after a long talk we came to a few conclusions. One, his people won't be able to hold off another attack without help. Two, we've landed not quite in the middle, but close to another big world-sized war and rumours are the two sides are set to go hammer and tongs for all the marbles. But he has offered to let us stay here, not as their guests, but as equals. In other words we'd form a permanent alliance with the Laiquendi, this can be our new home if we want.. There's a huge mountain range just on the other side of this forest called the Misty Mountains. Think of the Rockies and then supersize it some and you've got a good idea how big it is. Phaer says that it's got a mix of Dwarven strongholds further north and also Goblins and Orcs who call it home as well. The Dwarves are real private, don't like anyone bothering them, but the ones we'd have to watch out for are the Goblins and Orcs, if we cross those mountains. I already know what I think, so the floor is open to everyone to say their mind."

"Can we trust them?" Willow was the first to voice the question on everyone's mind.

"I think so, I got a pretty good read on Phaer and it seemed that his back is as much to the wall as ours is and neither of us are in any shape for any more go-arounds."

"So how much does this Phaerhuinë know about us though? I know you say we can trust him, but I don't like feeling exposed with everyone knowing all of our business." Sachiko added.

Nodding, "True and I agree with you too. I told him enough about us fleeing a war and he's already seen us in combat. But he's bright enough to know we're holding things back." Buffy replied.

"So then, how would this work though?" Aiesha asked. "Are we going to start living in the trees?"

A smile on her face, "Not quite. This forest's pretty big and Phaer's said deeper inside there are open areas we can use to build in. Plus they'll share with us their knowledge of living in the forest so we don't damage it or get on each other's nerves by being on top of the other. Besides I was thinking we might want to scout into the nearby mountains and see what our options are there as well."

"Don't' quite trust them B?" Faith asked.

"I don't trust anyone that much who didn't come with us from Earth." Buffy answered, a somber look on her face.

"Then why do you trust them enough for us to live here?" Willow asked.

"Because our options are getting too limited Will. We're all tired, running from one war and into another, we've got even more injured, not to mention the kids can't keep up the pace we can. Do I need to say more?" Buffy said archly. Looking at each of the Council in order; "We need time, rest and someplace relatively safe and right now this place seems to meet those needs. Unless any of you have a better idea then I'll accept the offer..."

Seeing no-one was going to object Buffy stood up and left without a word never seeing the worried looks on several of the faces behind her.

Willow turned to Faith, "Faith, is she okay? She seems a bit on edge..."

"She's tired Will, more than I think she's been letting on, even to me. She's taking all the deaths personally and I think she's afraid,"

"Why? No-one's ever blamed her and she's the reason we're still alive!" Rainne said, her tone showing her confusion. "If it wasn't for her running things and that alliance she made with the demons early on, we'd have been toast!"

Faith sighed, "Rainne, all Buffy sees are the ones that died and that she's failed us somehow because we're in the middle of another war and she can't do anything about it."

"But that's..." Rainne started to say.

"Buffy." Faith and Willow answered at the same time.

-------

Buffy headed deeper into the forest, the weight of the dead pulling on her. In her mind Buffy replayed the meeting with Phaer. She got the sense that Phaer was one to keep his word and his offer almost seemed too good to be true. In the end she'd told Phaer enough about them so that he had a better understanding of them, that they were fleeing a war and were looking for a safe place to call home. But she'd left most of everything about what is a Slayer, or much about the Witches.

Sighing, Buffy heard near quiet footsteps behind her. With a short sniff of the air, Buffy smelled the vanilla soap that Willow liked to use. "What's up Willow? Come to check on me?" Buffy asked without turning around.

"I hate it when you do that and yes I am. I'm worried about you Buffy, I don't want to see you start self-destructing on me again." Willow said before walking up behind Buffy and putting her hand on Buffy's shoulder. "I'm more worried about you acting as if it was your fault for the Slayers who died. It wasn't and you need to get past that."

"Drop it Will, I'm not in the mood." Buffy said when she felt herself pulled around and now facing an angry Willow.

"You listen here miss Slayer!" Willow said her finger almost in Buffy's face. "Dropping this isn't what I plan on doing. See this?" Willow said pointing to her face, "This is Resolve Face 2.0! No! Nuh Uh! Quiet!" Willow said interrupting Buffy as she tried to say something. "Resolve Face!"

Buffy finally started laughing so hard she started to cry, finally she was able to get her laughter under control. "I surrender to the power of Resolve Face 2.0, Will."

"And that is such as it shall always be. All shall bow to Resolve Face." Willow said solemnly before cracking a smile, pleased she'd gotten Buffy to laugh a little. "But Buffy, you have to let go of all the ghosts you're keeping. You didn't kill them, you didn't fail them. It was just their time." Willow changed back to the topic they'd drifted from.

"Maybe if I had done something differently," Buffy said before Willow's finger on her lips hushed her.

"You did what you had to, when it needed to be done Buffy. No one else could have done more or saved as many of us as you did." Gathering her courage up, Willow drew Buffy in close and held her, feeling Buffy's arms wrap around her as she pulled them both down as she cried. And Willow felt Buffy start to let go of her ghosts. "You're strong for everyone else Buffy, you don't have to be strong around me. I'll be strong for you."

---------

**Laer (July) 27th, FA 562**

**Southern Misty Mountains**

"So Chione? What do you think?" Buffy asked the dusky skinned Slayer from Egypt.

"I think with a lot of hard work we can build a fortress that no-one's going to get into. I've scouted through that range there," Chione said, pointing at the closest set of mountains, "and there are tunnels all over through that mountain range. Those'll be our big challenges, blocking any new tunnels coming in and trapping any others. But I've seen one spot that's just perfect for what you want," Chione said, the sun sparkled off the pieces of metal she had braided in her hair that came down to her waist. "Don't trust these guys then?" Chione asked, curious.

"Maybe, but after everything it's always nice to have a backup just in case." Buffy replied, looking over the mountains.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Buffy asked, knowing Chione was an expert with stonework and tunneling.

"If you're in a hurry, 2 - 3 weeks, but it'll be a bit primitive, actually a lot primitive. Otherwise...longer. And that won't include trapping the tunnels I found, much less mapping out the ones that I know that are there and didn't find."

Looking finally at Chione, "Well we've got plenty of idle hands, so take whoever you need Chione." Buffy said before turning to stare once again at the mountain range.

-------------

**Firith (September) 27th, FA 562**

**2 Months Later**

"Red, what did you say to Buffy that day she told us about the offer from Phare?" Faith asked, curious. She'd seen Buffy come back, the black cloud that had always followed her seemed to have lifted and not returned. "I'm not complaining, but she wouldn't listen to me then and now I've got a very happy lover on my hands again."

"I just talked to her is all," Willow said, reluctant to share what happened between her and Buffy.

Faith gave Willow a piercing stare, "Really? So, Red when are you going to stop 'grieving' for Kennedy. I know you've had plenty of offers over the last month and you've shot all of them down. Leaving not a few very upset Slayers I might add. Not that I'm having any complaints in that department!" Faith said with a Cheshire Cat grin on her face.

Blushing hotly, "I don't know what you mean. I just turned down a few dates is all."

"And is that why you found a very naked and horny Chione in your bed last week? Is it something or should I say 'someone' else holding you back? A certain short, blond haired Slayer?"

"Yes and she's with you thank you!" Willow replied tartly.

A serious look came over Faith's face, "And what about me Willow? Is that the problem?"

"I don't..." And a light went off over Willow's head in understanding. "No Faith, whatever happened between Buffy and me is over and done with. They just, I mean..."

"They aren't Buffy?" Faith put in to save Willow.

"In word...yes." Willow said dejectedly.

Putting her arm over Willow's shoulders, "Don't give up hope on finding someone Red, maybe they were standing right in front of you and you haven't seen them yet."

**End Chapter Four.**


	5. Interlude 1

**Changing Destiny **

Disclaimers – Buffy and Co are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, where as Aaron Spelling (or his heirs) own Charmed. I'm just borrowing them briefly and I'm not making a dime so please don't bother suing me g .

Author's Note 1 – I know that quite a few of you have expressed both anger and curiousity (and a little cheering) over why Xander betrayed Buffy and the others. Well here's look into Xander's motivations for what and why he did, along with a view of what's been happening on Earth since Buffy, Faith, Willow and the others left. Enjoy!

Author's Note 2 – Almost forgot, you'll be seeing some familiar Witchy faces from San Francisco, but don't expect Canon, this is an AU after all! ;-)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Interlude 1 **

**1 Earth Month Later…**

The War had changed dramatically with the disappearance of the Slayers and Witches. The demon outbreaks in Germany and Saudi Arabia had been quickly contained by the SDA, but that hadn't been the end of things. Shortly thereafter, multiple Portals went active all over the U.S., first in St. Louis and then quickly followed by Chicago, Reno, Portland and San Francisco. The U.S. government responded by declaring marital law and pulling back almost all of its overseas forces back to the U.S., by the time the military had pulled their units back to the U.S. and re-deployed them, dozens more cities had fallen to Demon Portals.

In short order, those cities became giant battlegrounds as the demons fought to break out and spread outwards and the U.S Army fought a losing battle to contain them. While the rest of the world watched the events taking place in the U.S. and sighed a breath of thanks that it wasn't happening 'to them', that suddenly changed three months after the last Portal opened up in the United States as Demon Portals opened up in Oslo, London, Madrid, Kyoto, Helsinki, Kiev, Brussels and 20 other cities across the European and Asian continents, with only Australia remaining unaffected.

-------------

**6 months later…**

**Chicago, Illinois**

Xander looked out over what was once downtown Chicago, broken skyscrapers and shattered buildings were all that was left of the once-beautiful Chicago skyline. The city was now a never-ending battlefield, with only feral dogs, the dead, demons and what few humans still remained alive below. Turning his back on the city view Xander considered his problem now and that was finding a way to close the portal the demons had managed to open. Buffy would have known what to do. Xander's little voice pointed out. Yeah, but she's not here, is she? Xander told his little voice, which promptly replied And why's that?.

Xander's mind drifted back to the time when they'd finally beaten the First Evil, the day things started to change….

----------

**The Past…**

**2005**

"Buffy, you can't just up and leave everyone!"

"Why not Xander? I spent the last eight years shedding my blood every night! Now it's my turn to have time for me and Dawn, no Slaying, no magick, no more sacrifices 'for the greater good', just me and Dawn. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Xander admitted. "It's just you can't just leave us with 'Faith'! I mean come on…she's 'Faith'!" Xander tried explaining. "At least stay around so Giles and Willow can get things setup before you go on your world-hopping tour!"

Buffy stopped her pacing, "And that's just how I get stuck doing 'everything' Xander. It's always 'just give us a hand' or something else that needed to be done that has kept Dawn and me here two months longer than I wanted. As for Faith, I'd think she's proven herself and her intentions Xander. She went to prison and paid her dues, just leave the past where it belongs, in the past."

"She didn't 'stay' there Buff, the Council got her out, that's the problem. Yeah, she did help out," Xander admitted reluctantly. "But she still has a lot to make up for before I'll say things are squared up with her."

Mentally Buffy sighed at Xander's stubbornness, she understood what Xander was feeling but even she had to admit Faith had changed and wasn't the same person she was when she went to work for the Mayor. "Just give her a 'fair' chance Xander, yeah she made mistakes, but then so did we."

"Maybe, but we didn't go all homicidal and try killing you either!"

"What the hell do you think happened on the rooftop when I stabbed her in the stomach and she wound up in a coma, Xander?!" Buffy said angrily. "Yeah, she tried hurting you and she did a Hell of a job on Wesley after she woke up from her coma…" Taking a deep breath Buffy brought her temper under control. "Xander, I know you're still not and probably never will be comfortable about Faith, and it's not like she and I are Cuddle-Bunnies or something, but cut her some slack…okay?"

Crossing his arms, "Fine, but I'll be watching her like a hawk for the first moment she even thinks about double-crossing us."

Smiling, "Good." Buffy said before giving Xander a hug before stepping back. "I'm gonna miss you while we're gone."

"Send us some postcards from Rome or wherever you go then, maybe bring home a naked dancing girl in your suitcase for me?"

"Bye Xander." Buffy said before walking out of the hotel room and outside to the car where Dawn was waiting for her.

-------------

**4 months later…**

**San Francisco**

**Guthrie's Sports Bar**

Xander stood at the line and threw all three darts, one at a time, hitting the dartboard with 2 while the third one bounced off. "Damn, I guess you win this round Sam," Xander said to his foreman, admitting defeat gracefully and paying for the next round of beer before walking back to his table where his girlfriend, Anne, sat waiting for him. "Hey beautiful," Xander said, kissing Anne as he sat down next to her.

"Lose again?"

"Yeah, but it's not a big deal."

"Isn't it?" Anne asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Look at all the things you told me about your life. You 'lose' any chance with Buffy because she's to blind to see what a great guy you are, then Faith comes in and fucks you and leaves you, then tries killing you and your friends. Your 'best-friend' Willow tries destroying the world and we won't even touch Cordelia or Anya who wasn't even human…!"

"Anne, we've talked about this before…" Xander started to say a little annoyed before a pair of fingers touched his lips.

"Yes we have, but you still keep clinging to things that aren't good for you or humanity in general." Anne pressed.

"What do you mean?" Xander asked, grateful that their booth was a little further away from anyone who might overhear the conversation.

"Just this, don't you think that if vampires and demons were gone, the world would be a better place? No more people dying mysteriously of blood loss or being sacrificed to some demon lord for some evil plot or another." Anne saw a glimmer of agreement in Xander's eyes.

"Maybe," Xander admitted.

"Xander, if there were no more demons, sorcerers, vampires, and God knows whatever else is out there just think of how that could change the world and for the better! No demons influencing people and politicians to do evil,"

"And we'd still have politicians out for their own interests Anne…"

Shaking her head, "Not once we voted them out of office and put in people we know would do the right thing!" Anne pressed.

Xander's eyes narrowed, " 'We'? What 'we' is that Anne?"

Yes! Got him! Anne thought triumphantly. "People just like you and me is all, regular, 'normal', everyday people. No secret agendas or anything sinister if that's what you're thinking. Just people tired of corrupted politicians and who want a better, 'normal' world for humans."

Taking a deep breath, "Okay, I can basically understand and agree with that." Xander answered after thinking about what Anne said. "So what does this have to do with me?"

"A lot, you're a businessman with growing contacts and influence in the community and you've seen first-hand the corruption of humans by demons and their ilk."

"I'll say it again, so what does that have to do with me? I'm not a Slayer or something…"

Anne smiled and put her right hand over Xander's, "More than you'd think, the fact that you're human and not a Slayer is a huge bonus. You've dealt with demons without getting corrupted by them, you know how they think, where they live and all we'd need is this…."

---------

**Kings Arms Apartments**

**2 months later…**

Xander paced back and forth as he waited for the others to arrive, the last few weeks had been nerve-wracking to say the least. Xander didn't have any problems fingering the demon's he knew were in the city and while his conscience gave him a twinge when he thought about how he was setting the Slayers up, he also knew that they weren't going to be needed any more either with the main reason for their existence, namely demons and vampires being gone, it was only a matter of time until they started using their powers for themselves and hurting anyone that got in their way. Why just look at what Faith had done! Xander's mind added.

It was getting the information on the Witches and where the suspected Covens met that was difficult. At first Xander hadn't been comfortable with the idea, at least until Anne pointed out that the Witches were just as dangerous in their own way as any Demon or Slayer. Just look at what Willow had done when she turned Evil, not to forget Amy, Amy's mother, Rack and Ethan Rayne just to name a few of the more notorious ones and that had been enough to convince Xander to use his security clearance on the Slayers Inc mainframe and get the information.

A knock on the door broke Xander out of his thoughts and he heard Anne open the door to let the others into the apartment. Walking into the living room Xander saw Samantha Driscoll, Tom Blanc and Sara Devine were already seated. "I got most of them, but there are a few that I couldn't find." Xander said without any preamble, "Those three Halliwell sisters you were really interested in? The computer files show them as dead, killed about a year ago." Xander said while handing the large manila file to Sara.

"Xander, you have no idea how this will help the cause and these Witches, even if they don't know it yet." Tom said sincerely.

"It also means we know where to find them if they start hurting normal people as well," Samantha chimed in.

"I don't care about any of that, the only thing I want is justice for what Faith did. She's hurt, killed and rampaged all over, all the while the Old Council covered it up because she was a 'Slayer'!" Xander spat the word out like it was something dirty. "If she'd been human she'd be rotting in jail right now for what she did." Xander stopped himself from saying anything more about Faith.

Samantha, Tom and Sara all stood up, "Don't worry," Samantha said, "Faith'll pay for what she did, along with anyone else like her who abuses their powers that way, trust me."

"I do, that's why I'm helping you as much as I can."

Samantha put her hand on Xander's shoulder, "I know and we appreciate this more than you know, when the time comes you'll be hailed as a hero for what you're doing."

"Give me Faith's head on a platter and I'll consider us even."

Anne softly cleared her throat and the three moved to the door to leave. Letting them out, Anne stopped Sara in the doorway. "Can you pull it off?" Anne asked softly.

"Yeah, we've got the perfect bait, we just have to wait for the sister to be out of town when we put the plan into action." Sara said confidently. "We have a team of ex-British SAS, Navy SEALS, US Army Rangers and Russian SPETSNAZ personnel just waiting."

"Good, that's just what I wanted to know. Thanks and good hunting!"

-------------

**7 months later…**

Buffy had returned with Dawn a month ago, but Xander hadn't been as ecstatic over his friend's return as the others had been and 'now' she was seeing Faith or in her words, 'just hanging out with her Sister Slayer', Xander groused as he saw how far Buffy had fallen from her role as a protector of Earth to where she'd willingly spend time with 'Faith' of all people. Especially considering that Faith had tried to kill Buffy, Quite a few times too!, stole her body, tried stealing and then killing her friends before Buffy finally did what had to be done and put Faith down, but not for good.

Xander's mood lightened when he saw Anne waiting for him in their brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee. Getting into the passenger side of the Jeep, "Hey hon!" Xander said as the jeep pulled away from the Calender Building.

"I really hate that place, it's a symbol of everything that's wrong with this world." Anne complained as she drove towards their condo.

"It's not all that bad, Anne. There are some good people in there." Xander said, defending some of the normals who worked in the building. "Of course that doesn't include the Slayers and other supernaturals Giles has in there. Right now let's just get back home and start the balling rolling on this."

-------------

**The Present**

**2012**

Things hadn't gotten worse because in the end, humans far outnumbered the demons. Xander thought to himself as he rode in the Humvee towards the Air Force base just outside the Demilitarized Zone of what once was San Francisco. Just then Xander heard, "What the Hell?" and felt the car lurch as the driver slammed on the brakes and the vehicle skidded on the wet pavement.

Xander felt a hard 'BUMP' as the Humvee hit something and went off the road and into a building. Xander flew forward and hit something with his head before everything went white and then black. Opening his eyes Xander saw the Humvee was halfway into a building and lying on its side, touching his head gingerly Xander winced and his hand came away with blood. "Damn, what the hell happened?" Looking for the driver, Xander saw he was missing and the door was thrown open. Ignoring the pain in his head Xander quickly searched for the spare rifle in the Humvee, after a minute Xander found the M-22A in the back seat. As he popped up on the driver's side, Xander quickly scanned the room and saw the driver was on the ground encased in a block of ice.

Xander climbed up and out the drivers side door holding the rifle butt against his shoulder as he sighted down the barrel and scanned the area around him.

"Over here." Came a woman's voice from behind him and Xander whirled around with the rifle only to feel something rip the rifle out of his hands. Hovering in the air, the rifle suddenly was crushed into a metal ball and fell to the ground. A moment later Xander found himself floating up before whatever it was that held him dropped him onto the ground.

"Is that him?" Came a second woman's voice. This woman was slightly shorter than the first and had longer brown hair.

Getting his bearings, Xander looked for who was talking and saw 3 women with dark hair standing near each other. "Who are you?" Xander asked as he frantically tried thinking of how to get out of this.

"Yeah, that's him," the shorter of the 3 women answered sadly, her hair was short unlike her 2 sisters, who liked their hair long.

"I said who are you?" Xander's voice hardened as he looked at the Witches.

"Since it doesn't really matter, I'm Prue and these are my sisters, Piper and Phoebe. You might have known us by another name though, the Charmed Ones." Looking over her shoulder Piper sensed a large pack of vampires coming this way as well as vehicles from the army base. It was a tossup which one would get here first, not that she really cared either way, the Betrayer's fate was already sealed.

"Prue, Paige has the girl." Phoebe whispered as soon as she got Paige's signal.

"Good, we'll be going in a minute. I just didn't expect to run into 'him' here." Prue said to Phoebe.

Xander saw the women whispering about something, when they stopped. "What do you mean by 'my fate's sealed'?" Xander asked having overheard that phrase from the three Witches.

Shaking her head, "I don't have the time or the inclination to talk to you Betrayer. You know what you did, although you'd think you'd have figured out 'something' happened since Priestess Rosenberg's spell didn't kill you when it should have. No matter, I have the child we came for and another Witch will be protected from the likes of you." With that Prue moved into the shadows along with Piper and Phoebe, casting her spell and all three women disappeared.

-------------------

**March 2008**

"Where's Xander?" Giles asked as he sat down at the head of the large table.

"Not sure, he's been doing something. When I ran into him in the mainframe room he said he was running a program and that he'd be a little late today." Kennedy answered.

"Very well, let us begin this weeks meeting." Looking out over the table and its' 9 other occupants, "As you will remember, last week we tabled a suggestion to give more autonomy to the local commands so that everyone had more time to look into this."

"It's not a bad idea G-man," Faith said first. "I like it, it'd make it easier for them to handle anything that came up without having to check back with us first."

"You like any idea that doesn't follow a long chain of command, Faith." Buffy said with a grin on her face. "Faith's right though, it is a good idea and if someone spots trouble by them there's no waiting for us to get back to them."

Giles saw similar looks of agreement on the rest of the occupants of the room, "Very well then, all in favour of giving the local commanders greater latitude and autonomy? All in favour raise your hands," Giles saw 10 hands go up. "Opposed? Very well, the measure passes with 10 For, 0 Against and 1 Absence."

---------

As the meeting adjourned Buffy walked over to Willow, "Hey Will, what's up with Xander? This is the seventh meeting he's missed."

Shaking her head, "Don't know, he's been spending all his time with 'Anne' or closeted with something whenever I tried to go see him."

"Still don't like her any?" Buffy asked as she heard the unhappy tone in Willow's voice as she spoke Anne's name.

"No I don't. Something about her just rubs me the wrong way I guess." Willow admitted.

The four women walked outside the building before stopping, "That wouldn't be a little green-eyed monster popping up, would it?" Buffy asked teasingly.

Willow just stuck her tongue out at Buffy first. "Hello! Happy Lesbian Witch here!" Willow said as she put her arm around Kennedy's waist.

"I'm just busting your chops Will." Buffy said before turning serious, "See if you can let him know about today's meeting, k?"

"I'll try but no promises Buff." Willow said as she and Kennedy moved off to where Willow had parked her car.

"K, bye!" Buffy and Faith both said as Willow and Kennedy walked away.

------------

**April 14th, 2008**

**11:10pm**

Xander watched the digital clock count down towards midnight when his phone rang, shattering the silence of the room. Picking it up, "Yeah?" Xander asked into the phone, annoyed at the interruption

"Xander, this is Sara..."

"What is it Sara? It's after 11pm at night." Xander said, cutting Sara off, never having liked her that much after the Slayer defended Faith in an argument they'd had a few months earlier.

"We got word from some sources that something 'big' is going on. Military bases all over the US and Europe are all lit up and active, and with Willow, Buffy and Faith not being available you're next in charge. What should we do?" Sara asked as she flipped through the pages of reports that had been coming in for the last few hours.

"Don't worry about it. It's probably just readiness alert. If they were going to do anything they wouldn't be advertising it." Xander assured Sara.

"But shouldn't we at least send out a general alert to the commanders in Europe and here just in case it's real?" Sara pressed.

"I said…**NO**. Just forget about it, by morning it'll all be over..." Xander hung the phone up. For you and all the others like you it will be. After tomorrow no-one'll die like Jesse ever again and we won't need corrupt 'protectors' like the Slayers anymore or people like Faith who'll abuse what was given to them to get what she wants...

--------

**April 14th**

**11:30pm**

"What are you Xander?" came Anne's voice as she walked into the 2 bedroom condominium

"In the living room, Hon!" Xander called out, never taking his eyes off of the clock.

Anne walked into the living room carrying a magnum of champagne and 2 glasses. "I got something for us to celebrate."

Taking his eyes off the clock finally, Xander saw Anne pop open the champagne and start pouring it into the champagne glasses. Taking a glass, "To the end of the monsters that have preyed on humans like cattle and the beginning of a new age!" Xander toasted before clinking his glass against Anne's.

"These people you got, they'll keep Dawn safe, they won't hurt her? I know she's not human human, but she's more human than any of the others."

"They're experts Xan. They know exactly what they're doing. Dawn would be in more danger of being hit by lightning than getting hurt by them." Anne assured Xander. "Dawn's just bait to get Faith to come to them, afterwards they'll let Dawn go."

"Good, I just want Faith dead, along with every other demon, vampire and monster on the planet." Xander said, a fanatical gleam in his eyes.

------------

**The Present**

**2012**

Xander heard the sirens as the humvees raced towards him from the base, but the question was would they arrive before whatever it was scared the 'Charmed Ones' off?

Xander saw a group of vampires charge out from a nearby building and figured he was dead, just in time to see the closest vampires cut in half by the .50 cal MG on the roof of the closest Humvee before it pulled up in front of him. The gunner on the roof of the Humvee cutting down the vampires like a hot knife through butter. A minute later it was over and Xander's ears rang unmercifully from the loud fire of the machinegun.

A soldier got out and walked over t him, but it took several tries before Xander was able to read the soldier's lips telling him to get into the Humvee. As Xander opened the back door to the Humvee he was hit by the smell of death and blood that wafted out of the vehicle. "What the...?" Was all Xander had time to say as he turned to look at the soldier and saw it was vamp in 'game face' and something pricked him in the neck. Slapping his hand to his neck Xander came away with a small dart, Xander was still staring at it as he saw the ground come rushing up towards his face.

---------

"We should kill him now for what he did!" Xander heard a woman say angrily as he slowly came back to consciousness.

"We can't and you know why. This is best, strip him of what protection he had with the 'humans' and leave him to find his way through the world he's created."

"Maybe, but it's not enough." The woman said.

"It'll have to be," Marco said gruffly. "Now go up front and help Tommy keep an eye out for any humans." Marco saw Elizabeth reluctantly follow his orders and go to the front of the Humvee. Once she was gone Marco kicked Xander with his toe just hard enough to nudge the boy. "You can stop pretending to be unconscious, I can hear your breathing pattern's changed."

Reluctantly Xander opened his eyes and sat up, looking at the vampire cautiously. "So what are you going to do with me?"

"If you mean are we gonna kill you, the answer's no. I don't have a death wish." Marco answered the boy.

"Then why am I here?" Xander asked, his curiousity peaked with that vague statement by the vampire.

"Simple, it's time you start living away from your 'safe, little, protected world' and saw what you did to everyone else." Marco said simply.

Frowning, "And what does that mean for my continued ability to breathe?"

"Not a damn thing, no-one's gonna touch you…much." Marco explained right before he sucker punched Xander on the jaw and knocking him out cold. "Okay, we're there. Stop the humvee and pull over." Marco ordered the driver who pulled over and stopped a few moments later. The door opened up and Marco saw Elizabeth standing there, a feral grin on her face.

"Take him out, take his clothes and anything else of any value and leave him by the side of the road, Marco ordered Elizabeth who gleefully grabbed the sleeping Betrayer and pulled him out of the humvee. When she was done the Betrayer lay lying in a muddy ditch, still unconscious.

"So what now?"

"We leave him here," Marco said as he dropped a bloody and torn pair of US Army fatigue pants and a shirt in the mud with Xander Harris. "Let's go." Marco said as he stopped back inside the humvee.

**Continued in Interlude 2**

**Next up is Chapter 5:)**


	6. Chapter 5

**Changing Destiny**

Disclaimers - Nope, still don't own rights to any of them!

Author's Notes - Thank you to all who have read and stayed with me so far :)

Howard Russel - Buffy fell back asleep because she was tired and her body was still healing ( in ch 3). Glad you liked the interlude, thought you should get a better view of what was going on with Xander when he betrayed them and why. There's still a little more to come with Xander and the reason why he didn't die from Willow's spell, (nope, that wasn't an accident :grin: )

missingviolet - I'm glad you're liking the story so far. But, no, I'm not going to ditch Faith anytime. I like her too much for to do that:) And there is a resolution down the road, you'll have to stay and see though :wink:

**Elvish Words  
**

**Barâd - Tower or Fortress**

**Dagnir - Slayer**

**Chapter Five Ederian, **

**Firith (October) 31st, FA 582 **

Phaerhuinë saw his Chief Scout enter the room. "What have you found out?" Phaerhuinë asked abruptly.

"They continue their work on something inside the mountains that border the forest, but I cannot get any closer. They have sentries everywhere and work is too frenzied, plus I am a man and I would stick out if I were to sneak in. Their settlement is almost complete however, they've built housing for the children and themselves, a 'hospital' and I've seen signs of traps along the routes to their settlement as well. They may not be as skilled as we are, but they are more devious in some ways. More than once I was almost caught by a second trap as I avoided a first one and several times I found a trap that was in turn trapped to safeguard it from tampering."

"My lord, that is surely enough proof that these Slayers are servants of Morgoth, what other reason would they have for all these secrets?"

"No it is not, Targas. It is a sign that they are cautious and just as unsure of our true intentions. We will continue to watch them and see what they do. But I have spoken to their leader, Buffy and I know that she has not lied to me." Seeing some disbelief on the faces of several of his advisors. "Last night I used the _Stone of Thundiel_," Phaerhuinë announced. "In it I saw much of what Buffy told me and even more that was not clear, but one thing was, and that is that these Slayers were not driven from their home like cattle, but instead chose to leave it. A decision many if not all of us are familiar with, only theirs was not a peaceful choice. So you must ask yourselves after having seen how fearsome they are in battle, who would push them to leave and why? And if they truly wanted to destroy us, I believe they could."

Stepping forward, Feanör spoke up, "Is it your will then that we trust these Slayers fully?"

"No, we continue to wait and watch."

---------------

**Southern Misty Mountains**

**Seven months later**

**Echuir (March) 25th, FA 562**

Chione smiled at her finished work, she'd originally given herself just over 12 months to complete the fortress Buffy wanted, but between all the workers and the Witches' magic, she'd shaved off over 4 months without compromising the major features or the overall design. "So, there she is Buffy. I don't know what to name her though, something grand and life threatening at the same time I think."

Buffy controlled her urge to laugh, not wanting to hurt the Egyptian Slayers feelings over her naming idea. "We'll see Chione. How soon can we start putting in the provisions?"

"Already started, and I found an underground river we can use for water as well. Had it tested and it came back 100 percent pure, so we won't need a cistern or well. Once you're inside, nothing's going to get you out if you don't want, so the children'll be safe. Next part is the mining though...maybe some pathfinding," Chione said wistfully.

Buffy saw Phaer's guard and sent Chione away before he was close enough, "Come to congratulate us? I didn't think your scouts would let you know this quickly." Buffy said as Phaer walked over. Over the last 6 months, the two had acquired a comfortable working relationship. Each one knowing the other was keeping secrets and yet still needling each other in spite of those secrets.

"So I see, what do you call it?" Phaerhuinë asked, knowing at least he could surprise his advisors with that little tid-bit.

Shrugging, "Not sure yet. I'll be sure to pass that on when we do though," Buffy said with a smirk. "Let's walk some," Buffy suggested suddenly and took note of Phaer's guards who hastily shifted positions. "How're your forces coming along?" Buffy asked abruptly.

Phaerhuinë stopped walking for a beat at Buffy's question before continuing, "Well enough, and you?" he asked cautiously.

"A little over 5 companies, almost 2 full battalions plus another 150 auxiliaries."

For the second time this morning Phaerhuinë almost stopped walking. "Why the sudden frankness Buffy?"

"For a couple of reasons; One, my people are getting a little rusty around the edges, I want to start cross training them with your weapons and people, Two; the time is coming. All of my Seers have told me that something bad is coming, but my most powerful Seer, Kimi Ishihara, warned me of at least 2 groups who will be heading this way to escape the destruction to the West..."

"Why tell me this and not just pull back in your little stone fortress back in the mountains, unless there is another reason?"

"Phaer, look, we both know what's coming down the road and I suspect you know better than what you've told me." Buffy said as she came to a sudden stop and looked at Phaer, a serious look on her face. "We both need to work together here, I already suggested cross-training, but for us that's not enough, we also need armour. I won't see my Sisters slaughtered on the battlefield because they didn't have any armour to protect them."

"So what do you want from me?" Phaerhuinë asked, already suspecting what the answer was.

"Armorers, you have them and we don't. We have books with the type of armour we want, but what we don't have are the people skilled enough to make it and you do." Buffy saw a hesitant look pass through Phaer's eyes before it was masked. "Well?"

Phaerhuinë thought carefully about what Buffy was asking for a minute before replying. "You'll share this knowledge about the armour you want freely? Any questions we have, you'll answer?" Phaerhuinë saw Buffy nod, 'yes'. "If we help make this armour for you there's nothing to stop you from turning on us once the danger of Morgoth is past, so why should I do it? If more of your people are dead, that just means fewer chances you'll turn on us."

Buffy expected Phaer might ask that question. "Because we need it, because I'm asking and I'm giving you my word of honor that that will not happen. All I want for my people is a safe place we can call home, raise and teach the children and be happy." Buffy saw Phaer was still unsure, "Would you like an oath in blood to prove I mean what I say?"

Phaerhuinë saw the truth in Buffy's words, but he was shocked when Buffy offered to make a blood oath. "Do you know what that would mean if you broke your word then? You'd be cursed never to find peace, even in death Buffy Summers, if you broke it."

"If that's what it takes to get what I need from you to protect my Sisters, then so be it." Buffy said and drew a small knife and cut her left palm open before tossing the knife point first into the ground. "By whatever Gods in this place I call on you to hear my Oath. I, Buffy Anne Summers, do swear that neither I nor any of my Sisters harbor any evil intentions to Phaerhuinë, Lord of the Misty Forests or his people. If I am forsworn in this let me be tormented and lose all that I love and even in death find no peace for all of eternity." A lone eagle's cry split the air when she was done; Buffy tore of a strip of her shirt and wound it tightly around the cut in her hand. "That good enough for you?"

"Yes," Phaerhuinë answered, trying to mask his surprise at how quickly Buffy was willing to do whatever she had to do to protect her people. "I will speak with Melhilion, my chief armorer and we will begin crafting the armour you need." Phaerhuinë said as he resumed walking once again.

"Good." Buffy said, satisfied her Sisters would get what the armour they needed.

"What other reason do you have to want to help us though?" Phaerhuinë pressed, knowing that there was more going on than meets the eye.

Buffy stopped walking and turned to look at Phaer, "For a few reasons, because we need someone who knows this world if we're going to survive, my Slayers have gotten used to you and your Elves here and frankly, I'm tired of running. It's time to chew bubblegum and kick some ass and I'm all out of bubblegum."

"Bubblegum?" Phaerhuinë asked but saw he wasn't going to get an answer. "What will happen if we decide to not work together with you? Have your Seers seen that?"

"You'll be destroyed, we'll get ripped up and survive, but only long enough to fade away before leaving the odd survivors to fend for themselves. There's an old saying on my…where I'm from. We can hang together or we can hang separately, but either way we'll still hang."

"That hardly sounds comforting, Buffy."

"It wasn't supposed to, it means fight alone we'll both be destroyed, but together we could survive against what's coming our way. So what's it going to be, hang alone or together?"

"On one condition, after this you tell the truth of everything hidden," Phaerhuinë said seeing Buffy's hesitation, "I believe your expression is 'like it or lump it.'"

Putting her bandaged hand out, "Agreed, if we both survive you get the full truth we've kept hidden."

Phaerhuinë shook Buffy's hand, feeling the restrained strength in her grip. "Very well then, I look forward to hearing it."

"I doubt it," Buffy said as she walked away, leaving a slightly confused Elf King in her wake.

---------------

**Southwest of the Gap of Rohan,**

**Laer (July), FA 563**

"That's 100 Orcs that won't be bothering anyone any more." Rainne said with an evil smile. "Or come anywhere near us a second time either. What the HELL is that?" Rainne asked at a huge smoke cloud that was coming from far west of there.

Edainne pulled his horse to a stop next to Rainne and stood up in his saddle, looking towards where she was pointing. The color drained from his face as he realized what it was. "It's begun..." Shaking himself free, "We have to get back to the forest, now!"

What's the problem 'Dain?" Rainne asked as she wondered what could have caused the normally unflappable elf to go paler than usual.

"The 'true' war against Morgoth has begun, the world will shake with their ire for the host of the Valar have come." Edainne replied, "BACK! BACK TO THE FOREST!!" Edainne yelled before spurring his horse and leading his men North and back to the Misty Forest.

A confused Rainne looked over at her fellow Slayers who were just as confused, if not more. "What's going on?" Rainne heard one of her Sisters ask. "You'll find out when we talk to Buffy, now let's get moving. Those Orcs may have bigger play friends hanging around and I for one don't want to play right now."

Rainne slowed Eryn as they reached the forest and into a walk with the rest of the group falling into a single line and following the trail carefully through the forest. Once she'd reached the stables, a boy ran out to meet her, taking the reins from her as she dismounted.

Samarrah, the Slayer on guard duty walked over as soon as she saw Rainne returning and a week early, which could only mean trouble. "Rainne, what's up?"

"I don't know, we saw something that scared the Laiquendi so much they turned and ran. I need to talk to Buffy or Faith."

"You rang?" Buffy asked as she walked up behind Rainne. "Why are you back so soon?"

Rainne and Buffy started walking a few feet before talking any further. "I'm not sure, trouble though. I saw some smoke to the west and pointed it out to Edainne who turned pale as death and raced back here."

Closing her eyes a moment, Buffy sighed quietly before looking at Rainne. "It's something I've been expecting. Pass the word, gather all the children and have them moved to the fortress. Meet me at the command post, the rest of the War Council will be there by the time you arrive."

"Buffy, what's going on?" Rainne pressed.

"What I never wanted..." Buffy said before walking away.

------------

**Command Post**

Buffy walked into the room and the chatter instantly stopped as all eyes turned towards Buffy. "We knew this was coming and prepared as best we could. It's time to go to war once again. Only this time it it's not just for us, but for the children and even for our allies, the Laiquendi as well." Buffy looked over at a slightly confused Rainne, "Rainne, I'd planned on filling you in this week about everything, but time wasn't on our side. We've known a war was coming and we'd hoped by moving this far East we'd be far enough away not to get caught in it, but that's not going to happen. That's also part of the reason for, Fortress Buffy," Buffy saw the surprised look on Rainne and Chione's faces, "Yes I did hear that name. Next time don't tell everyone and not expect it to get back to me." Buffy said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yi-min, Sachiko, we're going to go with Operation Retribution. Oh and just so that everyone knows, that is not the name we're keeping for that fortress. Come up with something better next time."

-----------

**Eleriand**

**Phaerhuinë's Throne Room**

Edainne pushed past the guards at the door and into the room. "My lord! It's started!"

Sitting forward, "What are you talking about Edainne?" Phaerhuinë asked, slightly annoyed at the interruption.

"I saw black clouds of smoke in the skies to the West."

"So the Valar have been called and struck the first blow at Morgoth. You did well Edainne." Turning his attention to his other advisors, "The time has come and sooner that I thought as well. What are Buffy and her Slayers doing?" Phaerhuinë asked as soon as the thought popped into his mind.

"We do not know. All of their troops pulled back deep into the forest about an hour ago, any sign of anyone here has been erased." Aiwendil, his Scout Master answered, dressed in his usual black and grey leathers.

"And this wasn't something to tell me about 'when' it happened?" Phaerhuinë asked angrily and pinned Aiwendil with his eyes.

"We weren't sure what it meant yet, my lord. We've also seen all the children and non-combatants disappear as well, we think to their fortress in the Misty Mountains."

Walking over to a table, Phaerhuinë sat down and quickly wrote a note before sprinkling powder over the ink and rolling the paper up. A minute later Phaerhuinë sealed the note with wax and his Signet Ring. "Send a messenger to Buffy with this immediately." Turning his attention to Brethil, the only other armoured elf in the room, "Watchwarden, gather all the warriors and archers. Prepare them for battle and have all the women and children prepare to move."

"Move? Move where?" Celos, his oldest advisor and friend asked.

Without answering Phaerhuinë left the throne room for his chambers.

----------

**Barâd Dagnir**

Buffy was moving towards the staging area of the 1st Company when a young elf caught up with her, "Lady Buffy, Lady Buffy! I have a message from Lord Phaerhuinë!" and the Elven boy held out a message tube. Taking it, Buffy opened the top and turned it over so the contents slid out into her hand and breaking the seal on it a moment later.

_**Buffy, the time has come it seems and I'll expect you to hold to your word afterwards. But I would ask a favour, since I know you do not plan to hold up with everyone inside Barâd Dagnir, but instead fight, I would ask for you to allow our women and young children to join yours in safety so that even if we fall, their lives will be spared. **_

_**I will meet you in 2 candlemarks.**_

_**Phaerhuinë, Lord of the Misty Forests.**_

Taking the note, Buffy folded it carefully and put it in her pocket. Unable to write in Elvish yet even if she could read it, Buffy kneeled in front of the boy. "Tell Phaer I'll send a company to escort them."

The boy nodded and ran off.

"Yi-min! Take a platoon and bring all of Phaer's women and children to the fortress. Then meet us back here."

Sachiko, Yi-Min, and Faith stood nearby and over 675 armed and armoured Slayers waited behind them. Gliding out of the forest, Buffy saw over 200 Elven Archers and another 150 Elven Warriors in formation. At their head, Buffy saw Phaer on horseback.

"Glad you could make it." Buffy said as Phaer rode up next to her.

"So what are you planning Buffy?" Phaerhuinë asked as Galengaladh rode up to his lord.

"Killing them all my lord. On killing them all. I intend to make it so painful for them they'll think they're getting an enema with a tree trunk and that any others that come by will go someplace else when they see what happens to the ones who came here first.. I know you have your own plans Phaer, but I thought we could try something a little different." Buffy suggested.

"Different in what way?" Phaerhuinë said suspiciously.

Smiling coldly, "Simple, we give them what they expect and bring them to us..."

-------

**3 Days Later…**

**Laer (July 19th), FA 562**

The smoke had risen in places all over Western Beleriand for the last 3 days and the land was wracked with earthquakes, now it was no longer a matter of time till they were attacked, it was a matter of 'when'.

Terondil saw from his spot high in the trees a large troop of Men heading their way. Blowing his horn 3 times Terondil waited in the boughs for the 'battle' below to unfold.

Galengaladh, had had the plan explained to him no less than three times, but he still didn't like it. Unfortunately obeying his lord and liking his orders weren't always the same thing. Hearing one of the scouts blow their horn 3 times Galengaladh signaled to his men to prepare as the archers stayed out of sight in the woods.

"How many do you make it Vilya?" Galengaladh asked his second, who also had the best eyesight of anyone he'd met.

"Hard to say Galen, maybe 200-300, but they're disorganized. No units or formations or banners even."

"Good, hoist up the banners and let's make our presence known."

------

Terren saw the Elven banners go up by the Misty Forests and smiled, showing his brown teeth. "Looks like we finally get some payback," Terren said as he saw the pitifully small number of Elves that stood against him.

------

Galengaladh stood still as he watched the warriors charge his position, glancing left and right Galengaladh saw all his men readied and watched the range drop. 500 yards...400... 350...200 yards Galengaladh mentally ticked down the range and just as he began to worry why his archers weren't firing, when at 150 yards Galengaladh heard the familiar 'twang' of bow strings, but more than should account for just his Archers as a large black cloud of arrows flew towards the followers of Morgoth.

------

Terren saw the Elves standing and waiting and grinned, they were almost within range when a hail of black arrows arced up into the air and landed among his men killing quite a few and wounding more, but not enough to stop him from crushing the Elves. Brandishing his sword Terren yelled as they ran into the Elvish formation.

------

Galengaladh was too busy to see the effects of the 3rd volley as the Men hit them right after it landed. A sword swipe took the head off one warrior and spinning in place Galen parried another blow from behind. Cutting the dirty looking warrior down, Galen saw his line was broken and being ground under by sheer numbers. "BACK! BACK! FALL BACK!!!" Galen yelled at the top of his lungs. Parrying an overhand swipe, Galen pushed his sword up, throwing the man off-balance and his sword swung straight, cutting through the chainmail armour and into the man's stomach and spilling his intestines out. Grabbing a soldier who'd fallen Galen picked him up with one hand while pulling him back.

Slowly he saw his men fight to disengage and pull back. Once back at the forest edge, Galen saw the Men had stopped to loot the bodies of his dead comrades.

About half his men were dead or wounded, but he had more than enough to kill the ones who'd fled and take their homes for his. "Loot the bodies later! We have women and gold to get from these Elves!!" Terren yelled as he punched and kicked his men until they stopped their 'fun' and got ready to charge once again.

Galen saw their leader punching and kicking his soldiers to get them ready for a charge when a hand touched his shoulder. Turning he saw it was a black-skinned young woman, she was wearing chainmail armour and carried two long swords on her back.

"Name's Vida, I'm here to guide you through the traps."

"Traps?" Galengaladh asked, curious.

"Yes. Miss Buffy's been very busy and now you have to get moving." Vida said abruptly as she saw the rag-tag group start to charge. Putting two fingers in her mouth Vida whistled loudly and pointed towards the open field.

Just then 300 hundred arrows shot out, decimating the front rank of the charge and slowing it down as the second tripped over the dead. "Move!" Vida ordered and the Elves reluctantly followed her

------

"What the heck did that come from? Doesn't matter anyway, once were in close they'll be meat..." Terren said confidently to himself.

------

Rainne watched as the remainder charged into the forest and started taking bets on how many walked out.

------

"I'm telling you Sara, he didn't have a leg and was dragging himself, that doesn't count as 'walking out'. So I win the bet!" Francesca said as she argued about who won.

"He still got out, so that counts for me."

"Fine, I'll split the pot with you. But only this time, next time we set the rules about what walking out means." Francesca grumbled and handed over 50 silver to Sara.

------

**Two Hours Later…**

"How bad were your losses Phaer?" Buffy asked after she saw Galen walk away.

"22 dead, another 37 wounded. You know we can't keep that up or we'll be whittled down to nothing,"

"One more like that and we'll have enough 'markers' so that the rest will leave us alone." Buffy said enigmatically.

"Markers?" Phaerhuinë asked, "Why would we want them to find us more easily?" Phaerhuinë asked but Buffy was already gone

----------

"Having fun yet?" Buffy asked as she saw Faith walking over.

"No, I'm still twiddling my thumbs over here." Faith pouted, only to have Buffy capture one of her lips, quickly the kiss deepened before both women pulled back.

"Just remember that while you're 'twiddling your thumbs'." Buffy said before walking back towards the front lines.

**End Chapter 5**


	7. Chapter 6

**Changing Destiny**

**Book 2 of the Dark Futures series**

**Disclaimers - I don't own anything from Buffy, Mutant Enemy or J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm just borrowing them for a while.**

** Author's Note - This story is set late in the First Age, about 1 year prior to the War of Wrath (FA 563) and the destruction and disappearance of Beleriand  
**

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**Chapter Six**

**Four Days Later**

**63 Laer (July 23rd), 563 FA**

Granalk stopped as he saw the first wooden cross, on it was the body of a headless man nailed to it. As he got closer Granalk saw that the body was several days old as the crows had been working on it for a little while. Further down the road, Granalk saw more and more crosses with more headless Men nailed to them. "Stop pissing your pants about some stupid Men who got themselves killed! We are Orcs of the Rotting Eye and we fear NOTHING!!" Granalk yelled to his men. "On the other side of a forest is the Misty Mountains and haven for us!!"

Hitting any Orc who looked at him, Granalk had his tribe moving quickly down the road and made sure that anyone looking too long at the crosses got hit several times. About 2 miles away from the forest, Granalk saw what they'd done with the heads. As there was a long row of over 200 heads on stakes and every 5th head had a sign next to it in 3 languages; the hated Elvish, the race of Men and Orcish and all 3 messages said the same thing; "**_The forest is Death to all. Enter and face the Slayers Wrath."_**

"What a Slayer?" Granalk heard one Orc ask, and with one quick move, turned, cutting the head off the Orc that had dared to speak. "QUIET!!! It's just a bunch of wimpy Elves trying to scare everyone away!" Granalk yelled, but he still heard mutters, although they were quieter.

"Elves no do that!" Granalk heard another Orc mutter.

"QUIET YOU DOGS!!!" Granalk yelled, knowing that if he let them they'd run. "Once we're through that forest we'll be at the base of the Misty Mountains and our fellow Orcs will welcome us with the Elven ears and weapons we'll have with us!"

The muttering quieted down at the thought of being hailed as Elf-killers, "Good, now let's get moving!"

-------

Terondil was exhausted after being up here for the last 4 days, but he had to keep watch. That was when he saw the Orc Troop headed this way and blew his horn 5 times.

-------

Cursing as she heard the five horn blasts, "Why can't they just read the signs and go around? Time for Plan B then." Buffy said before signaling her people to get ready.

"Signs? What signs?" Galen asked as he walked up behind Buffy.

"The ones that say, 'Stay the fuck out of here!' Those signs." Buffy answered, not giving Galen the answer he wanted.

-------

Granalk saw the Misty Forest and a cold feeling went down his spine, but he quickly ignored it. Drawing his sword and pointing to the forest, "That's it! Through there!!" Granalk said just as he saw a small force of Elves by the forest edge. "HA!! I knew IT! Kill the pointy ears and grind their bones!!" Granalk yelled, leading his troop in a charge towards the forest and the ground shook as 500 Orcs yelled and screamed for blood.

-------

Rainne watched at the Orcs ran madly across the open ground towards the Elves, all sense of order and unit formation was lost as they ran pell mell towards the Elves waiting for them. _The problem though was there weren't that many Elves facing them for that to matter all that much._ _On the bright side though,_ Rainne thought evilly, _the Orcs were in for a surprise themselves in a few..._

Rainne saw the Elven and Slayer archers start to launch flight after flight of arrows at the Orcs and the closest Orcs were cut down like a scythe through wheat. Orcs fell to the ground, dead and wounded, only to be run over by their fellow Orcs behind them and then the Orcs slammed into the Elven line just as they were hit by the point blank fire of the Elven Archers, but it wasn't enough to stop the Orcs' charge as they ran into the synchronized attacks of the Elvish warriors in front that cut even more of the Orcs down.

------

The Elvish line buckled under the weight of so many Orcs and Galengaladh saw his warriors begin to fall as the line began to disintegrate from the sheer number of Orcs facing them.

------

Rainne heard 3 horn blasts from the trees and saw one of the lookouts high up in the tree pointing. Taking her binoculars, Rainne looked where the lookout was pointing, "Oh, fuck me!" Rainne swore as she saw another group of Orcs maybe a half mile away. "Signal the Elves to fall back now!" Rainne said urgently only to see the Orcs run past them and into the forest. "Get ready!!" Rainne yelled down the left of her line and then the right, as 150 Slayers knelt down, "Steady!" Rainne said as she saw the Orcs come into view and counted the distance down.

"NOW!"

The Orcs were only 25 yards away and running at full speed when the Slayers brought up the 6' pikes to form a wall that the Orcs ran straight onto, unable to stop and then the next rank of Orcs ran straight into their comrades, shoving them further onto the pikes. Rainne knew that they had to hold them here and that if they broke the entire plan went to shit. But the problem was that the pikes were getting too heavy to hold up. "Change in plans," Rainne was saying when she saw 2 companies of Slayers hit the Orcs from either side.

The flanks of the Orc formation completely shattered as they were hit and the Slayers pressed towards the middle, sandwiching the Orcs between them. Five minutes later the Orcs were carpeting the forest floor with their dead and wounded, the survivors having fled from what was a losing battle.

Rainne turned as she saw Buffy walking over, "I take it you heard about our newcomers?" Rainne asked.

"Yeah, move everyone back. It's time to put Plan B into action." Buffy started to walk away and stopped, turning back around. "You did good Rainne, just watch your back." Buffy said before leaving quickly.

-------

Tarkesh saw the smoke and the surviving Orcs running out of the forest and meet up with his EyeGnashers when Tarkesh saw his rival, Granalk trot up to him. "What happen? Elves too tough for you?" Tarkesh sneered.

"Hah! We crush Elves, it the 'others' inside the forest. These 'Slayers'..." Granalk spat out the name like a bad taste, "We weren't expecting them, but if we work together our forces can crush the ones that oppose us and breed the others!"

"Tarkesh lead fight, not Granalk."

Granalk didn't say a word but gathered up the survivors and moved them behind Tarkesh's troops. "Greh!! We let Tarkesh take the brunt and we'll clean up after." Granalk said to himself as he watched Tarkesh's troops line up to charge.

-------

"Is everyone in their positions?" Buffy asked as she waited in her command post behind the main line.

"Hai. Everyone's in the entrenchments." Sachiko answered quickly before Buffy got the idea in her head to 'inspect' the troops on the front line.

"Damn," Buffy muttered as she caught sight of movement further back from her position high in the trees. Putting her binoculars to her eyes, Buffy watched as the second, even larger Orc troop charged them and just behind Buffy could make out a few banners from the survivors of the first group, combined there were easily 1000 Orcs now. Buffy watched as the Elves fired first, their expertise and more powerful bows hit the Orcs at 300 yards, a range that Buffy's Slayers couldn't match with their composite bows.

Orcs dropped as they were hit, but the arrows didn't slow them down any, finally though the Orcs were coming into range and Buffy saw a huge cloud of 200 arrows fly out, decimating the front rank of the charging Orcs. Smiling, "Hot damn, looks like I owe Willow a big hug for arguing me out of using the English Long Bows." Buffy quickly put the binoculars away after the third arrow flight to watch from her position high up in a tree as the Orcs ran into the forest and the little 'surprise' they had waiting for them.

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The first Orcs into the forest fell into giant tiger pits filled with large 3' wooden stakes at the bottom, others were injured by bungee traps that only impaled a foot, leg or arm on several hollow stakes, injuring them and causing them to bleed out even as they fought to free themselves. Tree trunks covered with stakes and spikes sticking out all over swung down from between the trees impaling or crushing those unfortunate to get hit and those thinking they were lucky to avoid the spiked tree trunks were usually hit from behind as the trunk reached it's apex and swung back. The Orcs blood curdling cries reached a crescendo as the as they cleared the traps and saw not more Elves, but women and they howled with excitement at what they'd do to them when they were captured!

------

Rainne waited with the 3rd and half the 2nd Company while the 4th with the other half of the 2nd Company on her right were armed with pikes forming a bristling wall as they waited for the survivors to get through. They didn't have to wait long as the Orcs charged them Rainne saw and set the butt of her pike firmly just as the first Orcs reached them and hit the pike wall. As soon as Rainne felt her pike getting to heavy to hold up and use, "Li! Now!" Rainne yelled and 50 archers station in the trees above opened fire into the mass of Orcs in front of them.

Confused by the sudden death raining about them the Orcs hesitated and Rainne dropped her pike even as she drew both swords. The other Slayers nearby saw Rainne and copied her, dropping their pikes and freeing their weapons before charging into the still surviving Orcs.

------

Buffy saw Rainne switch to swords, but what Rainne couldn't see was the second group of about 200 or so Orcs that had come through the traps mostly unscathed and would smash into Rainne and her company unless somebody did something about it. Grabbing her sheathed sword and putting it through her belt, Buffy jumped down the tree from branch to branch till she reached the ground and ran to where the 3rd Company was waiting.

Sachiko started swearing in Japanese when she saw Buffy take off and quickly climbed down after her, only catching up with her as Buffy reached the '5th Company', that was in reality the 1st and Buffy's unofficial bodyguards. "Buffy, what are you doing?" Sachiko asked angrily. "Willow said you were to stay out of this fight."

"Willow's not here," Buffy said with a smirk before becoming serious as she strapped on her armour with help from Charlie. "Besides, Rainne is about to get her ass handed to her if I don't do something. There's a second group that's going to hit them while she's fully engaged with the first group of Orcs." Buffy finished as Charlie finished with the leg guards and Buffy pulled on the long heavy leather gloves that covered her arm from her hand to her shoulder while Charlie tied them in back before setting her hand on the hilt of her katana. A weapon that Buffy found somewhat inadequate against the heavier armour the Orcs and others wore, but she wasn't going to give it up anytime soon.

Buffy shifted her attention to Charlie, "Go find Faith, have her get whoever she can and swing wide to hit them from behind. Tell her to meet me in the middle." Buffy saw Charlie nod before taking off at a run. "Are you coming?" Buffy asked Sachiko with a knowing smile even as the rest of the company moved out and 125 Veteran Slayers followed Buffy.

_At least she hasn't figured out that the 'company' is really her bodyguard. Every one is a volunteer and proved themselves to be the best at what they do. Killing anything that threatens Buffy and willing to do anything to protect her. _Sachiko thought wryly as little Shaki helped her get her armour on. As soon as she was ready Sachiko jogged to catch up to Buffy. "So do you have a plan or is this the usual?"

"What do you mean 'the usual'?"

"The usual is you charging ahead and getting into trouble without a plan." Sachiko said with a grin, she just loved poking Buffy that way.

Buffy stuck her tongue out at Sachiko before answering. "Of course I have a plan. The second group is going to reach Rainne before we will so we're going to hit them from the right flank and drive straight through. Hopefully it won't take Faith too long to come join the party or that's when things will turn 'interesting'. But on the bright side we'll have a target rich environment."

Sachiko sighed, wishing she had her naginata with her, "That usually means we'll be surrounded."

"Yes, but that's not the 'plan'!"

"Joy!" Sachiko said dryly as the company silently moved through the forest and around the right flank of the Orcs before getting into formation and creeping forward to get as close as possible.

------

Charlie found Miss Faith over by Willow and the Coven. "Miss Faith!" Charlie called out and saw Faith dressed in her blood red armour walking over.

"Yeah? What is it Charlie?" Faith asked, having learned all the runners' names.

"Miss Buffy wants you to "get whoever she can and swing wide to hit them from behind. Tell her to meet me in the middle." Unquote. She's taking the 5th and attacking from the right flank."

Faith sighed loudly, she enjoyed a good fight more than most but sometimes Buffy was just looking to give her a nervous breakdown. "Fine. Good job." Faith said brusquely as she went through her mental list of who was available.

-------

Rainne had charged forward with the rest of her company in a ragged line, ducking under the two-handed sword that was trying to take her head off and thrust her sword forward, catching the Orc in between a gap in his armour. With a vicious pull, Rainne ripped her broad sword free, blood splattering her and whirling around to bring her other sword up in time to parry the Orc who'd gotten in behind her. A swift kick to the Orc's head stunned him and Rainne's sword separated the Orc's head from his shoulders.

Turning around Rainne saw Chloe get stabbed in the back and avenged her a moment later, taking the top of the Orc's head off and killing him. The initial charge surprised the Orcs, but as they came out the other side Rainne saw a second group emerging and found herself fighting to get everyone together so as not to get cut off and killed piecemeal. The archers had stopped firing a while ago except for the occasional arrow here and there. _Buffy or Faith, please do something!_

------

Buffy saw Rainne and her Slayers were surrounded by both groups of Orcs and looked back at her company. For the first time Buffy noticed that they seemed VERY heavily armed compared to the other Slayer companies, but she dismissed that thought and got her mind back on the problem at hand as she moved over to Sachiko. "Change in plans, we'll hit the front group from behind and catch them between us and Rainne's Company. With them gone Rainne can pull back and we'll keep the second group of Orcs busy." Buffy quickly outlined her plan.

The Company formed up quickly in a double line and Buffy looked up and down the line before signaling to move forward. They had gotten to within 50 yards when one of the Orcs saw them approaching. As the Orc bellowed out a warning, Buffy had already signaled the Company to charge.

Buffy and the 1st Company slammed into the mostly surprised Orcs from behind, cutting them down like a scythe through wheat. Buffy fought her way through the Orcs and found Rainne, killing her 'playmate'.

"Get your people and start pulling back. We'll hold the second group..." Buffy yelled to Rainne over the din of yells and screams when she saw a large Orc, easily 6' feet tall heading towards her and this Orc was wearing heavy armour and carrying a two-handed sword.

Buffy pushed Rainne away as she moved towards Big and Ugly. The Orc yelled as it swung the two-handed sword down at her and Buffy easily sidestepped the initial attack, her Katana cutting the Orc just above his knee where Buffy saw a gap in his armour. A closer look and Buffy saw several more gaps in the Orcs ill-fitting armour, which meant the odds weren't against her as much…

----

Buffy avoided blocking the Orcs' two-handed sword directly since she knew her katana wasn't made to parrying such a heavy weapon, but dodged, ducked and generally avoided the slower weapon even as she kept slashing the Orc through the gaps in his armour. Blood leaked out over his armour and Buffy saw the Orc was starting to tire, as he was moving slower each time to recover from one of his attacks. Seeing her chance, Buffy put all her strength into a swing that cut just above the Orcs knee, leaving it half-severed as the Orc tumbled to the ground as the blood sprayed out from the wound.

As the Orc held his leg Buffy stepped in close and brought the sword down like a spear in his throat, killing him. Taking a chance, Buffy pushed her sword down into the ground, point first and picked up the Orcs' heavy, two-handed sword with both hands, bringing it down on his neck severing it. Leaning over Buffy picked up the Orcs head and grabbed her sword before throwing the severed head at a large group of Orcs that were still fighting.

As soon as the Orcs saw it was Tarkesh's head, they looked at her before Buffy saw them turn and run only to be picked off by the archers in the trees above.

------

Faith had the scratch company of 75 Slayers moving as quickly as possible to get in behind the giant melee going on. _I'm going to KILL HER when I get my hands on her!_ Faith grumbled to herself as they finally were in position. With a nod, Faith and the 75 Slayers charged into the rear of the second group of Orcs...

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Things had gotten a bit more complicated than Buffy had planned on, because as they fought to maintain a line and let the survivor's of Rainne's company break off, Buffy company had found itself unable to pull back once the two Orc groups merged into one, larger, one.

------

Buffy had lost her helmet to a mace that had connected, ripping the helmet off her head and setting her ears to ringing from the force of the blow. Blood ran freely down the left side of her face from a cut by her temple but Buffy barely paid any attention to it or the numerous other cuts on her as she kept moving to the largest concentrations of Orcs she could find. The second group had proven to be a lot tougher than the first group and Buffy knew she'd been cut off from her Company when all she could see around her were Orcs.

------

Sachiko thanked all the Gods she could think of that they'd had time to make armor for the Slayers. Taking a page from her ancestors from Japan, they'd decided that the traditional heavy armour such as the European chainmail or splint armour would be too heavy and restrictive and that the lighter armours such as leather or studded wouldn't give enough protection. So instead they'd created a bastardized version of the Japanese Samurai Dô-Maru armour, using lighter steel plates for the Dô or back and breast armor, the Sode was made using leather and long metal strips woven into rectangular shoulder guards. The Kote, leather and mail gloves that covered the top of the wearers arm from the back of the hand and up to the shoulder and the bishamon-suneate, metal leg armour that protected the knees and shins. In the end they'd created a set of armour that would allow the Slayers the freedom of movement and still give them the protection they needed in the middle of combat.

She could see Buffy up ahead quite easily, especially now that she had lost her helmet; Buffy's blonde hair was like a beacon in the middle of this melee. Cutting the Orc in front of her down, Sachiko paused to gather as many Slayers as she could before charging ahead where Buffy was in the thick of things.

------

_Being completely surrounded did have its advantages_ Buffy thought to herself, _At least I don't have to worry about anyone else getting hurt._ Shoving her sword to the hilt into the Orc's chest, Buffy grabbed the hand axe for herself from the dying Orc. In one smooth motion Buffy pulled her katana out of the Orc's chest even as she cut the arm off of another Orc charging at her with the wickedly curved blade of the hand axe. Buffy parried a sword stroke from an Orc trying to sneak up on her and shifted her grip on the hand axe before thrusting the 4" spike on the top of the axe head into the Orc's eye. Buffy pulled the axe spike free as the Orc tipped backwards and into another Orc just behind him. As the two Orcs went down Buffy leapt to her left and at an Orc, using her katana to parry the Orc's sword even as her axe clove through the armour and deep into the Orc's chest. Ripping the axe free Buffy threw it at the Orc getting ready to throw a spear at her. The axe spun through the air towards the Orc before burying itself in his skull, dropping the Orc where he stood.

------

Sachiko finally fought her way through to Buffy, but she had lost most of her Sister Slayers during the fighting, now Sachiko found herself and 5 other Slayers alone with Buffy and 50 very BIG Orcs.

"Welcome to the party Chiko!" Buffy said with a mad grin as her sword slashed an Orc's throat open.

------

Faith and the 75 other Slayers of her makeshift company where just getting into position to attack from the very rear of the Orcs when seemingly out of nowhere what looked like Galen and 100 Elves slammed into the right flank of the Orcs like a hammer…

"Alright! Looks like the Elves have returned the favour and hit the Orcs. Now let's go get Buffy and kick some ass on the way!" Faith said to her fellow Sisters and Faith saw hungry looks of anticipation on their faces.

------

Buffy stood back to back with Chiko, the numbers of the Orcs had thinned out but they'd lost their other Sisters sometime during the fighting. "Well, this isn't working out quite how I planned." Buffy said as she parried a sword before kicking the owner in the stomach, doubling him over. Buffy's katana came up and then down on the Orc's neck, severing it and his head bounced away.

"Gee and here I thought you planned this…" Sachiko deadpanned as she cut one Orc down and kicked another to her right in the face, stunning him.

"So not the plan…" Buffy answered as she dodged a long sword. "….Chiko. In and out." Buffy continued as she severed another Orc's arm at the elbow before thrusting the katana point first into the Orc's throat. "This was definitely 'not' the plan." Buffy finished as she ducked under a two-handed sword that cut the air just above her head before she rammed her katana into the Orc's foot, pinning to the ground. As the Orc yelled in pain, Buffy's fist shattered the Orc's jaw like crystal. A second strike a moment later took out both his eyes and Buffy moved towards her next target.

"You just keep telling yourself that, Buffy." Sachiko said dryly, as she avoided getting hit by a spiked mace before grabbing the arm and holding it before she cut the arm off at the elbow. Bringing her broadsword up to parry an Orc's long sword, Sachiko saw the Orcish blade shatter and brought her broadsword down on the Orc's skull, shattering it in a spray of blood, brains and bone….

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Faith and the other Slayers had hit the Orcs from behind, cutting them down as they fought their way to get to Buffy's side. Finally, Faith saw a flash of golden hair up ahead and knew she was close. "Get out of my way ugly," Faith snarled as her clawed hand shot towards the Orc's throat before she ripped it out and pushed the Orc out of her way.

Faith fought her way through to Buffy and found her covered in blood and killing an Orc with her bare hands. "Lose something B?" Faith asked as her two-handed sword cut an Orc in half that was trying to sneak up on Buffy. A few feet away, Faith saw Sachiko looking as bad as Buffy, her armor was bloody and damaged in several places.

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**Ederian **

**69 Laer (July 29th), FA 563**

It was two days after the last of the Orcs and Men had been driven from their forest and they were still cleaning up the bodies, armour and weapons. The final tally for the Orcs had been high and they'd stopped counting after they hit 400. Two more large groups, one of Men and another of Orcs, had tried going through the forest The wagons were piled high with the dead before they headed 50 miles east and dropped the bodies into the giant bonfire that had been raging for the last 2 days.

When they were finally done, they abandoned the wagons before setting them on fire and heading home. It was with a good deal of trepidation that Buffy headed towards Ederian and Phaerhuinë to carry through on her promise.

Once she arrived Buffy was quickly ushered into Phaerhuinë's presence and her first look told Buffy that Phaerhuinë looked just as tired as she felt. Standing up and walking over to Buffy, Phaerhuinë signaled for chairs to be brought for both of them and had the room cleared except for just them.

"So, come to carry out your promise?"

"Yes, but I don't know how much you'll believe or even like what I have to say..." Buffy saw Phaerhuinë nod at her words but waited for her to speak. "Okay then, in the beginning on our world it was anything but a paradise. In fact the world was ruled by demons and their kin..."

**End Chapter 6 and **

**Continued in Chapter 7**


	8. Chapter 7

**Changing Destiny**  
Disclaimers – Nope, none of Buffy and Co are mine . 

Author's Note – Sorry for the long delay between chapters, things have been hectic with the holidays and work. But here for your reading pleasure are Chapters 7 & 8 .

italics - thoughts

**Chapter Seven**

**Ederian**

69 Laer (July 29th), FA 563

1 hour later...

"So then your world was overrun with these demons then?" Phaerhuinë asked as he leaned back and saw Buffy nod 'yes'. "And you and the Slayers before you were charged with protecting your world but that doesn't tell me how or why you came here."

"Well that's a horse of another colour entirely, it was when we were fighting the First Evil and losing when we came up with an idea. Since we had only 2 Slayers at the time and at least hundreds, if not thousands of Turok-Han vampires, why not change the rules and activate ALL the Potentials into Slayers? By doing that it gave us the forces we needed to hold off the Turok-Han and keep them occupied while we got the Necklace down into the Hellmouth. Of course we had no idea what would happen when we did..."

Buffy went on to explain the story of what happened next; the destruction of the Hellmouth and the vampires inside, the creation of a new Council and how humanity reacted when they found out about demons, Slayers and Vampires and the ensuing war to wipe them all out...

Leaning back in his chair, Phaerhuinë took a deep breath and thought about what he'd just been told over the last two candlemarks. It was both unbelievable and impossible not to believe, because while most of what he had been told couldn't be proven one way or the other, here also seated right in front of him was living proof of what she said.

Finally, "So what do you plan to do now that I know your secret?"

"Isn't that up to you?" Buffy asked.

"No it's not. I have to admit that so much of your story is just beyond words. Machines that fly. A world that would turn on its' own protectors. It would almost be unreal if I didn't know you," Phaerhuinë admitted. "You look tired," Phaerhuinë said as he saw Buffy's head drooping slightly and then nod in agreement. "Then go home and rest, we can talk again tomorrow." Signaling an aide, Phaerhuinë quickly told the boy to make sure Lady Buffy returned to her home safely. Once Buffy was gone with the boy, Phaerhuinë called his Councilors back into the room repeating most of the story for them, minus a few little details that should be kept to himself for the moment. Most of them had already made their minds up about the Slayers and none of them harbored any thoughts of them working for Morgoth, not after what they had done twice now for the Laiquendi.

Once the story was told, Phaerhuinë dismissed them but stopped Laihilion, his closest advisor and childhood friend from leaving. Once they were alone Phaer told Laihilion the parts he'd not told the other advisors.

"Do you want to know what I think or have you made your mind up already?" Laihilion asked carefully, knowing how impulsive Phaer could be for an Elf.

"I want to know what you think and I know what I think we should do. But first I need to hear your thoughts, my old friend."

"I think they're dangerous... But not to us. I have seen all the information our Scouts witnessed about these Slayers and I have seen them in battle and listened to their war leaders speak both to us and their own." Laihilion paused, taking a deep breath. "No matter their origins, we know them for how they are and demons or servants of evil they are not. But rather honorable and brave, to turn them out after all they have done would be a stain we could never clear from our honor." Laihilion saw Phaer release the breath he had been holding, "I take it you have come to that conclusion as well? And the idea of an alliance with them as well I suspect. I've seen the 'look' on your face, she may not be an Elf, but you find Buffy attractive."

"Whether or not I find her attractive isn't relevant. But your advice does match my thoughts as well, but there is one other I must speak to before I make a decision."

"You mean Minyardion? Your father's First Councilor? I thought he retired after your father's death?"

"Yes and he did, but that's what makes him perfect. He knows of the Slayers and what they did, but he's not a part of the Council anymore, I need an outside point of view just to be certain."

"As you wish, is there anything else?" Laihilion asked and saw Phaer nod 'no'. "Then I take my leave, Maeg is having a difficult time carrying our child this time."

"Is she alright?" Phaerhuinë asked concerned.

"Yes, it's just harder on her than she expected." Laihilion answered. "But thank you for asking." With a bow, Laihilion quickly left the throne room and headed home.

3 Days Earlier 

67 Laer (July 27th), FA 563

Willow wandered the battlefield, ignoring the dead and dying Orcs as she looked for Buffy who had been missing since she joined the battle two and a half days ago. Finally after walking away from the main fight and about a half-mile away, Willow found Buffy leaning against a tree and not paying any attention to what was around her. Everywhere around her Willow saw the heaped bodies of dead Orcs and she could see Buffy's armour was damaged and missing in places. As she got closer, Willow saw Buffy whirl around, her bloody sword raised to strike until Buffy finally recognized who it was. Now that she was this close Willow could see the dried and blackened blood that was coating Buffy's armour, her hair and what patches of exposed skin she could see.

"Damnit Will, you can't just sneak up on me like that. Especially after a battle, you know what it's like…"

"I wasn't sneaking and someone has a case of the hungries I take it? Come on, let's go back to camp and get you out of that armour where the Healers can take a look at you and get you bandaged up." Willow suggested as she reached out and touched Buffy's bare arm, feeling the tension running through it.

Buffy fought the desperate urge to grab Willow and kiss her senseless when Willow touched her arm. Gritting her teeth, "No, you go. I'll catch up with you..." Buffy said as another image of Willow naked flashed through her mind.

"Buffy?" Willow asked her hand still touching Buffy's bare skin and Willow saw Buffy's eyes darken with lust.

Pulling her arm that Willow was touching away. "Just go!!" Buffy yelled as she closed her eyes, trying to block out the raw need she was feeling. After the constant fighting for the last 3 days, Buffy was fighting a losing battle, the 'need' had always been there especially after a fight, but now it was almost overwhelming.

Willow pulled her hand back at Buffy's reaction, knowing that something was wrong and that it was more than a case of 'hungry and horny' Willow knew as she saw Buffy literally shaking. Backing up more so she could go find Faith, Willow turned and ran right into someone. As she looked up Willow saw it was Faith with a very intense look on her face.

Faith had gone searching for Buffy as soon as she could and found both Buffy and Willow. "Get going Red. I'll take care of B." Faith saw Willow hesitate, "Git! Now! Unless you want to be part of a Willow sandwich!!"

Knowing that running would be a bad thing, Willow walked as quickly as possible from both Slayers. Looking over her shoulder Willow saw Buffy and Faith were already half-undressed and holding each other. Hands roamed all over each other, caressing, squeezing, touching…soon enough Willow saw both women were naked and lying on the forest floor. With that Willow blushed brightly as she found the sight arousing, embarrassed at that thought she turned away and headed back to camp.

Lying on the ground with Faith wrapped around her, Buffy was content not to move but she knew they had to make an appearance before someone got the bright idea to send out a search party and found them butt naked.

"B?" Faith asked as she stirred when she felt Buffy move. Faith saw a distraught looking Buffy sitting up, her head in her hands. "B? What's wrong?"

"I've screwed up so bad Faith," Buffy said as she refused to look at Faith.

"What are you talking about B?" Faith asked, suspecting what it was that was bothering Buffy.

"Willow. I know she's afraid of me... I wanted her so bad Faith it hurt. Everything screamed at me to just take her I was shaking as I tried to fight it."

"But you didn't B, that's what's important. And Red knows all about the 'hungry and hornies' with Slayers. Definitely not an issue there B."

Shaking her head, "I wanted her so bad I could taste her, her skin..." Buffy stopped herself from saying more as she realized where her mouth was going before her brain caught up.

Faith decided to press the issue slightly, "So what's the problem B? You want Red and not in the 'best friend way' but more of the 'hot, sweaty and her screaming your name from the rafters' kind of way."

Buffy felt her jaw drop at Faith's comment. "I'm in love with '**you**'! That's the problem Faith! And how can you sit there all calm and relaxed that your girlfriend is lusting after another girl?"

Rolling her eyes, "'**Everyone**' lusts after someone else B. Sometimes it's a movie star or someone they see all the time and know and just wonder. Hell, I'd be the first to admit if I'd found Angelina Jolie in my bed, I wouldn't be tossing her out! But it doesn't mean I love you one iota less!"

Buffy thought about what Faith said carefully before answering, "Okay, I can sorta see that. She is kinda hot admittedly, not Willow hot..." Buffy said and wanted to shoot herself for that slip.

Faith scooted a little closer so she was sitting across from Buffy. "Your problem B, isn't that you're lusting after someone else."

Frowning, "Than what is it Faith? Are you saying I'm in love with someone else?" Buffy asked, shaking her head, "That's ridiculous Faith!"

"No, I'm saying that in addition to me, you've also been in love with your best friend for the last few years and your instincts are tired of you living in the land of denial."

"B-Wha...Huh!" Buffy sputtered out, half in shock and half in fear that Faith knew.

"B, why do you think it was so hard to control yourself when you saw Red? If it had been any other person, it wouldn't have been an issue. But it wasn't, it was the woman you keep telling yourself you're 'not' in love with, even when your body language screams it to everyone else with a pair of working eyes!" Faith paused to let this sink in before she continued. "Even while we've been talking you've been dropping clues to me how you feel about Red. Have you seen how miserable she is B?"

Making a last ditch effort, "That's not true Faith; Willow's just stressed with everything that's been going on is all."

"Keep thinking that B, but tell me then why Red hasn't taken another lover since we got here and please do not use the 'grieving over Kennedy' excuse." Faith saw she was making headway when Buffy started to speak and stopped herself. Moving so that her body was against Buffy's, "Look B, I know beyond a shadow of doubt that you love me. Really, really love me, warts and all. But you need to admit it to yourself and Red about how you feel." That was when Faith saw tears running down Buffy's face, "B?" Faith asked worried.

"It had been almost year after you 'died', Willow confronted me. Just kept pushing things I wanted to ignore, wouldn't leave things alone." Buffy said almost silently. "I was tired, lonely and when she put her arms around me," Looking up at the sky, "God, I almost tore her clothes off I wanted her so bad. Did everything I ever fantasized about and just after we made love they told me that you were back. I grabbed my clothes and ran to you as fast as I could, to see if it was really you and it was. You were alive and beautiful as I remembered and alive."

Faith held Buffy as she 'came clean', tears running down Buffy's face. Faith just stayed silent, letting B get it out without her interrupting.

"And you thought if you ignored how you felt and just focused on me it'd all just go away?" Faith saw Buffy nod, "Feelings aren't like that B. You know that, you can't just lock the genie away once it's out." Faith took Buffy's face and moved it so she could see Buffy's eyes. "Do you love me?"

"Yes, with all my heart Faith."

"Do you love Willow?"

More tears started filling Buffy's eyes, "Yes, God help me. Yes I do and I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm being torn in two inside."

Faith smiled mentally, knowing that Buffy had finally admitted the truth to herself. "Then stop pretending that your feelings for Red aren't real and go tell her."

"B-But..."

"Are you going to stop loving me because you love Willow?"

"No," Buffy started to say before she was cut off.

"That's what I thought. But your first problem is that Willow is as stubborn as you, so first you have to get her somewhere she can't run away..."

Buffy sat in-between Faith's legs and against her chest as Faith let her hands play across Buffy's stomach only occasionally brushing her breasts. "Faith, this isn't helping me think any."

Faith cupped one of Buffy's breasts as her thumb played with the nipple that hardened under her touch. "I don't know, it's doing wonderful things for me." Faith said as she heard Buffy moan softly and then stopped, moving her hands back to Buffy's stomach.

"Tease!" Buffy said before sticking her tongue out at Faith.

"So what are you going to do about Red or when are you going to do Red to be more specific?" Faith asked only to see Buffy blush.

"I don't know, I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around you being so okay with Willow..." Buffy admitted.

"Let's get dressed before the search and rescue team finds us butt naked and then talk some more on the way back." Faith suggested and the two started to look for their clothes that were strewn all across the ground.

Willow saw Faith and Buffy walking back into camp looking as relaxed and tired, _Yeah, having sex for hours and hours will do that for you._ Came the jealous thought into Willow's mind that she quickly stomped on, jealous she may be, but she refused to let that affect her friendship with Buffy and Faith.

"Hey Red!" Faith said as she waved. Leaning over Faith kissed Buffy on the lips, "Catch you later B!" Faith said before heading off and leaving Buffy alone with Willow.

"So, are you okay now?" Willow asked after Buffy's behaviour in the forest

"Everything's good, Will. How about you?" Buffy asked casually.

Willow frowned, "Buffy...what's going on?" Willow asked suspicious of 'I'm trying to be casual here, but I'm up to no good' behaviour.

"Nothing Will, honest! You just worry too much. But I do have a question for you, what are you doing the day after tomorrow?"

"Why?" Willow asked suspiciously.

"Simple, I haven't been treating you like the best friend you are, something that Faith mentioned to me and I want to make it up to you starting with tomorrow."

"Well I'm not going to argue that since I have been feeling a bit left out, so okay then..."

"Great!" Buffy said cutting Willow off. "Then I'll pick you up the day after tomorrow at 4, oh and wear something comfortable to hike in, there's someplace I want you to see."

70 Laer (July 30th), FA 563

Two Days Later… 

Willow was waiting for Buffy and wearing one of the last remaining pair of jeans she had left, a blue cotton button down shirt that was tied off showing off her stomach and hiking boots when Willow saw Buffy walk on over. Willow noticed that as Buffy got closer she had a light sheen of sweat on her skin. "Been working out?"

"Hmmm?" Buffy asked before she noticed she was a little sweaty. "Oh, that. Just working some is all. Don't worry, I won't be all stinky for dinner. You ready?" Buffy asked and saw Willow nod a moment later. 'K then, come on!" Buffy started out at a slow trot as the headed towards the Misty Mountains and the spot she had picked out. It took about 45 minutes of walking before Buffy and Willow made it to the hidden area. "Here we are," Buffy announced, as she made sure Willow saw the small cabin she'd had built to her specifications. Walking towards the cabin with Willow right next to her, "And there's my shower," Buffy said pointing to the waterfall.

"Wow! This is just...just beautiful, how'd you ever find this place?" Willow asked in complete surprise at the natural beauty around her.

"By accident, I was out for a run when I stumbled on it. Figured it'd make a nice get away spot when I needed some privacy." Buffy grabbed a towel and soap off the table outside cabin. "I'll be right back," Buffy said as she went towards the waterfall, peeling her clothes off as she got close enough and stepped under the water, enjoying the sensation of the cool water against her overheated skin.

Quickly enough Buffy washed, scrubbed and toweled herself off, getting dressed in her clean clothes before returning to the cabin.

"Hey Will, there's some water left if you want to grab a quick shower..." Buffy offered, "I'll get dinner ready while you wash up." And an image of a naked Willow under the water danced through her mind.

Buffy ignored the patently suspicious looks from Willow as she turned her attention to getting dinner ready, because while she wasn't a great cook she'd found to her complete surprise there was no dearth of volunteers who offered to cook something for her and Willow. If she didn't know better she'd almost think that this was part of some plot to get them together. Buffy finished getting the simple fare of salad and some fresh rabbit stew ready for Willow when she returned which was only about 10 minutes later. When Willow walked in she was wearing a short red dress that showed off her legs, Buffy had to fight to keep her jaw from dropping. "Err, uhmm, you look nice Will. "Really nice!" Buffy finally managed to say.

Dinner was good Willow thought as she felt more connected to Buffy than in a long time. They shared some fears, some memories of before, laughed and when it was over they sat outside where Willow found herself leaning against Buffy feeling relaxed and comfortable.

Buffy saw the shooting stars and pointed them out to Willow, "That's what I wanted to show you tonight," Buffy said as she felt Willow leaning against her and fought a little urge to lean down and sniff Willow's neck before kissing her with everything she was feeling.

"Goddess it's beautiful tonight, thank you." Willow said and without thinking about it snuggled closer to Buffy, her left hand resting on Buffy's thigh tracing invisible patterns on it.

After waiting a few minutes more, Buffy finally decided to broach the subject she'd been dreading all night. "Will, do you ever think of it?"

"It?" Willow asked until it suddenly dawned on her what Buffy meant. "Ohhhhhh! You mean that it it!" Willow said blushing. "Oh...uh... err no. I mean not that it wasn't memory worthy or anything, because it was!"

Buffy forcefully pushed aside the warm feelings that were spreading from her thigh where Willow was drawing on and tried concentrating on getting Willow to open up to her about them. "That's good, because I've never forgotten a second of it or regretted making love to you. The only thing I do regret is leaving you the way I did."

Willow tried making her voice light, "That's okay Buffy, what else were you going to do? Faith was back and hurt and you needed to see her. I would have done the same thing if it was Kennedy."

"No, you wouldn't have," Buffy said, running one hand up and down Willow's arm.

Willow felt herself slipping more and more into Buffy's embrace until she was snuggled in-between Buffy's legs, her head lying against Buffy's chest. Willow's mind was awash with conflicting emotions, most of her wanted to stay where she was with Buffy under her and the small guilty part was screaming this was wrong. Willow heard a twig snap and popped upright as her guilty part took over and sent images of Faith finding her and Buffy together...**again!** "I have to go Buffy, this was a mistake. I'm sorry..."

"Don't you dare 'I'm sorry' anything! You aren't going anywhere and there's nothing for you to be feeling guilty over!" Buffy said reading Willow's feelings plainly. "Sit back down."

"But Faith..." Willow said weakly.

"Faith isn't the issue here Will, it's you and me. Look, do you really want to leave?" Buffy asked and saw Willow shake her head 'no' slowly. "Good, then sit back down right here."

Reluctantly Willow sat back down but across from Buffy. "I'm sorry Buffy but I'm not going to pull a Veruca and screw things up with you and Faith."

"Will, the only way that could happen is if every Slayer and Witch didn't already know how you and I keep dancing around the subject."

"What do you mean?" Willow asked, worried she'd been so transparent about her feelings for Buffy.

"Simple," Buffy said and walked over in front of Willow before kissing her on the lips, as she ran her tongue over Willow's lips, Buffy felt Willow open them and deepened the kiss. Buffy's arms wrapped themselves around Willow as she enjoyed the taste of Willow's lips and tongue. Finally Buffy slowed down and ended the kiss, "That's what I mean." Buffy said not letting go of Willow's waist where she had her hands laced at the small of Willow's back.

Willow's guilty voice was getting drowned out more and more and after that last kiss Willow barely even knew it was talking to her. "Oh yeah?" Willow asked as she looked up into Buffy's face and saw not lust, but love in Buffy's eyes. "So...if we...I mean what about Faith? I won't be a 'kept' woman, hiding."

"And I wouldn't want you to be hidden, I want the world to see the two women I'm in love with and be jealous."

"And Faith, how does she feel about me being in the mix?"

"Who do you think made me fess up how I was really feeling? But why don't you ask her?" Buffy said as she saw Faith walk up from the darkness where she'd been keeping an eye on them.

Willow turned around in Buffy's arms, backing up against her, "Faith?" Willow said nervously.

"Red, is that our girlfriends arms you have around you?"

"N-N..." and then Willow stopped as she replayed word for word what Faith just said in her mind. "Wait, our girlfriend?"

"Yes, **ours** Red. Do you remember when we spoke that day?" Faith saw Willow nod. "Have your feelings changed any? Well neither have mine and I've seen B around you. She's torn apart because she cares about both of us, but it's wrong and I'm not going to make her choose. That only leaves us with one option and that is we share **her**."

"Isn't that...?"

"Weird, unusual, odd." Faith finished for Willow. "Yeah, pretty much. But it's what we got dealt, so we deal is all."

"And us?"

"Look Red, I know you have 50 million questions and I'll be happy to sit down and answer them...later."

Buffy leaned down and started nibbling on the back of Willow's neck, pushing the dress aside so she could get to Willow's shoulder, biting and sucking on it enough to leave a mark and heard Willow moan softly.

All thought of conversation went out the window as Willow felt Buffy first nibbling on her neck and then pushing her dress off her shoulder and moving her lips there until she started to suck and bite at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. Willow turned around in Buffy's arms so she could see the Slayers face. "Buffy...Faith's here..."

Buffy's only answer was to reach down and cup one of Willow's breasts causing Willow to inhale sharply even as she blushed in embarrassment with Faith here. Determined to take Willow's mind off of Faith, Buffy captured Willow's lips and plundering Willow's mouth with her tongue and silencing her. When she was done Buffy ended the kiss, "What was that?" Buffy asked Willow quietly.

"Nothing," Willow answered, but a part of her was still nervous at the knowledge that Faith was nearby, watching. Willow felt Buffy take one of her hands and move it to one of Buffy's breasts, squeezing. "Touch me, please..." Willow heard Buffy ask pleadingly. Willow felt the nipple harden under her hand and tweaked it. And all thoughts of Faith faded from Willow's mind to be replaced with a desire to see and taste Buffy's body again and again. That one time they'd made love all those years ago had left her wanting more.

Willow felt the other shoulder of her dress slide down exposing it to Buffy's mouth and a shudder ran through her body to her toes as Willow felt Buffy bite down on her shoulder before she sucked at the skin. Buffy's mouth moved to her neck biting it gently all over before moving back down, a moment later Willow felt herself being lifted up and carried towards the cabin. Once they were inside Willow watched as Buffy carried her into the bedroom and gently deposited her on the bed, lying down next to her a moment later.

Willow pushed Buffy backwards onto her back and climbed on top, straddling Buffy's waist only to feel Buffy's hands run up her back and stop. A moment later Willow heard a 'zip' sound and felt her dress being unzipped by Buffy's nimble fingers and pulled down so that it was pooled around her waist. Then Willow felt Buffy take both her breasts in her hands. "Oh Goddess yes!" Willow moaned out loud.

Buffy flipped Willow onto her back, kissing Willow before moving down to her throat, her neck and then Willow's chest before stopping to look in Willow's eyes.

"Will, do you want to stop? We go forward and make love here, there's no second thoughts or changing your mind afterwards, that's it, we're together and everyone is gonna know you're with me and Faith." Buffy asked completely serious.

Willow saw the serious look on Buffy's face and understood their friendship would be irrevocably changed if she stopped it here. _Do I want this to change? Can I deal with being in a relationship with two women?_ And Willow knew the answer was yes, and while she'd need time to figure out how Faith worked, she knew that she did care about Faith even if she wasn't in love with her. "Yes." Willow answered and a saw a look of utter relief in Buffy's eyes. "No second thoughts or guilties and we'll figure it out, all three of us."

With that Buffy latched her lips onto one of Willow's breasts, licking around the sides and bottom before letting her tongue run over the hardened nipple and she started sucking on it, hearing Willow moan softly. Without looking Buffy's hands grabbed the dress around Willow's waist and started sliding it down with Willow helping by raising her hips and with that Buffy tossed the dress to the side and sat up to look down at Willow who was dressed only in a red thong. Running one hand up and down Willow's back and down her sides to her thighs, never staying still.

Willow was enjoying the sensations from where her body was touching Buffy's, much less from Buffy's talented hands, fingers and lips when she remembered Faith was there and turned around looking for her only to see Faith seated in a comfy looking chair 5' feet away and just watching… "Buf-fee," Willow started to say just as one of Buffy's hands cupped one of her breasts, squeezing it softly. With that Willow forgot what was going to say and just went with the sensations she was feeling. Soon enough, Willow felt a pair of hands gently running up and down her back until they were replaced by a pair of lips that started on her neck, gently sucking on the skin there and alternating with light nips especially at the juncture of her neck and shoulder where Willow knew she was **'very'** sensitive

At first Willow felt confused how Buffy was doing that when she realized it had to be Faith, a corner of her mind argued that it was 'wrong', but the rest of her said 'shut up' as both Buffy and Faith moved down her body, but from opposite sides, hands slid over her skin and lips moved across, leaving damp trails as they moved sideways and down. Finally Willow felt Buffy slide out from underneath her and push her down onto the bed on her side before moving herself back where she left off at Willow's bellybutton. Slowly the lips kissed their way down to her stomach, then her hips and then down further before stopping. Always, Willow felt one hand always touching her, whether it was her stomach or sliding up to the bottom of her breasts to finally cupping it. Moaning at the sensations that ran through her body Willow felt her legs parted and the thong pulled off before a warm breath blow over her labia making her shudder before Willow felt Buffy's tongue lick along the length of her lips, taking in all the liquid there before timidly pushing just past the lips inside her and Willow groaned loudly.

"Goddess, Buffy!" Willow said in-between shudders as her body craved more contact. Her wish was granted soon enough as Willow felt Buffy's tongue push its way into her. Even as Willow was moaning a pair of lips descended on hers and Willow knew who it was. Opening her mouth Willow sought out Faith's lips with her tongue, running them over the soft lips only to have them open and Willow tasted the uniqueness that was Faith even as she moaned loudly into Faith's mouth as Buffy's tongue started doing '**wonderful'** things to her as it sought out every nook and cranny and taste that was Willow. Unsure of herself, but not wanting to have Faith feel left out, Willow moved a hand towards Faith's stomach only to feel a hand gently grab her wrist and hold it still even as the kiss ended.

"No, Will. This is about you and Buffy tonight, if things work out we can see about a more mutual exchange some other time, k?"

Willow only nodded, not entirely happy and not unhappy about Faith's decision here either, but Willow felt Faith let go of her wrist a few moments later. Meanwhile Willow noticed that Buffy's lips had removed themselves from where they had being doing 'wonderful things' even as Faith cupped one of her breasts and leaned over to run her tongue over the other hardened nipple. With all the attention she was getting from Buffy and Faith, Willow felt her body starting to go on overload from all the sensations it was getting. Then Willow felt Buffy's fingers brush against her labia, slowly moving against it before Willow felt two fingers slide into her and moaned loudly. Reaching up Willow grabbed Faith and pulled her down so that she could kiss her as she ran her hands over the smooth skin of Faith's back. Willow felt Buffy start moving inside of her and started to move her hips in tune to the pace Buffy was setting. After all the attention that was spent on her Willow felt the growing pressure building inside of her.

A pair of lips wrapped themselves around her clitoris, gently sucking on it and Willow felt like someone had plugged her into a light-socket as she felt her body explode as she came hard. Willow felt Buffy and Faith move with her, stroking her body before slowing down and Willow felt tired, but good. Willow felt Buffy crawl up behind her and she leaned back into Buffy's embrace, a moment later Faith slid in front and facing her, but not quite touching. Nervously, Willow took Faith's hands in her own, pulling Faith closer to her so that their bodies now touched. "No mutual exchange be damned for tonight Faith." With that Willow felt the tension she'd felt in the muscles of Faith's body relax some.

Willow felt Faith's longer body against hers even as a muscular leg slid in-between hers and hands gently roamed over her body, touching and teasing. _This is gonna be one very 'long' night_ Willow's little voice said and so it was…

**End Chapter Seven**

Terms, People & Places FA – First Age. At the end of the First Age, the Valar host came to Middle Earth destroying Morgoth's forces and fortresses before finally capturing Morgoth himself, but in the process a huge chunk of Middle-Earth called Beleriand sank into the sea, forcing the survivors East. The appearance of the forces of the Valar and the ending of Morgoth's threat in Middle-Earth was called the 'War of Wrath' by the Elves afterwards. 

SA – Second Age. The Second Age was the Age of Númenor, a great island nation that was given by the Valar to the Men who fought against Morgoth. Númenor was settled in SA 32 and destroyed in SA 3319, the survivors fled to Middle-Earth founding the Kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor.

Morgoth – The great enemy of the Elves who sought to enslave all of Middle-Earth to his rule.

Valar – Valar is the name given to the fifteen powerful spirits who took physical form and entered Arda after its creation to give order to the world and later combat the evils of Melkor (who was the 15th member of the Valar and Manwë's brother) aka Morgoth.

**Elvish – Sindarin**

Barâd – Fortress

Melethron – Lover

Dagnir – Slayer

Urk – Orc

that's it for now, more to be added as you ask and as I add new bits that might need explaining.


	9. Chapter 8

**Changing Destiny**

italics - thoughts

Chapter Eight

71 Laer (July 31st), FA 563

Willow woke up to a comfortable heat on both sides of her body, opening her eyes Willow saw she was sandwiched in-between both a naked Faith and Buffy. Buffy was spooned up against her from behind, her arm over Willow's waist and Faith was asleep in front of her. That was when Willow realized she was holding one of Faiths' breasts in her hand. A part of her wanted to scream running out of the room, but another, bigger part wanted nothing more than to stay right where she was, comfortable in the warmth and safety of her position. Giving into the comfortable part Willow snuggled herself against Buffy even as she pulled Faith tighter against herself and gave Faith's breast a soft squeeze before placing a kiss on Faith's neck and just lying there, content.

A while later Willow felt Faith stir and turn around to face her.

"Morning Red." Faith said not with her usual grin but a soft smile. "You okay?"

"Yeah, dealing a little in my head some, a lot of last night was a surprise for me." Willow admitted.

"Well it wasn't exactly planned out, so that's makes two of us." Faith said even as she noticed that Willow hadn't let go of her breast and was gently playing with it and biting back a groan at Willow's touch, but she couldn't hide her nipples hardening from Willow's eyes.

Faith slid back and off the bed and pulling on a robe over her. "Come on Red. We wake up B there and our little talk isn't going to be one."

Willow just nodded and followed suit getting off the bed, looking around for something to wear when Faith handed her a red robe.

"Here you go, it's a little big, but it's better than walking around with nothing on and with B, that'll only be an invitation." Faith said with a knowing grin.

The two women walked outside to the porch where there were some chairs and a small table where they sat down.

"Willow, there are some things we need to talk about." Faith said ominously.

Frowning, "What do you mean?"

"Do you have any idea how bad things almost turned out when you found B after the battle?" Faith said with a hint of anger in her voice.

Shaking her head, "I don't understand Faith."

"Red, when you found B she was riding the ragged edge of holding herself together and then you go and get all on top of her. B was this close," Faith held her thumb and forefinger barely apart, "to throwing you down and taking you right there Red and she would have hated herself forever if that happened. That battle brought out her Slayer side to the front in-order to survive, so when you ran into her, her Slayer instincts were screaming at her to take you and make you hers RIGHT THERE!" Faith paused to let that sink in to Willow's head.

"But I was only worried about her..."

"Yeah, but you know better than that Red! You were sleeping with Kennedy for how long? So you know how Kenn was after a tough fight and you went after Buffy anyway? After she'd been in a 3-day long, running battle?! Will, she would have taken you right there in the forest hard and fast and never heard you say 'no' and afterwards... I don't even want to think about how or what Buffy might have done to herself when she realized what she'd done to you…"

Willow sat in place feeling numb and shocked, unable to say anything.

"I waited all this time for Buffy to tell you of her own choice and at her own pace, but I gotta tell you Red I don't know how you missed seeing how much Buffy cares about you. Why do you think about a few months after we got here that the first few Slayers who tried to go out with you they suddenly backed off? Not to mention that not **one** of the Witches even asked you out. It was because Buffy 'sparred' with those Slayers, read 'beat the crap out of them' for going near you and the rest got the message loud and clear that you were HERS and that meant hands off."

Stopping Willow thought about what Faith said and then thought about how the Slayers did seem to act differently around her after a while, but she'd thought it was just them realizing she wasn't interested. "But we weren't even a couple or anything!! Why would Buffy do that, make me stay alone?" Willow asked, hurt.

Faith wanted to slap Willow for being so dense, but instead opted to try and open Willow's eyes. "B didn't want you to be alone, she wanted you for herself Willow. She just couldn't accept that she was in love with us both, but her Slayer instincts saw the other Slayers wanting to get close to you as a direct challenge to her and that's why she reacted that way with them."

"So why aren't you all 'grrrr' about me being with Buffy then?"

"Maybe because I get to be with you, maybe I'm just wired a little different and maybe because of something else." Faith said evasively.

"Then what do we do now? You and me that is." Willow asked.

"We get to know each other, we have dinners and lunches, we talk, hold hands, even kiss. You've spent a lot of time avoiding me Red, it's time to stop and start learning to know your girlfriend's other significant other."

Willow was about to say something when a pair of arms came around her neck to rest on her chest. "Morning Buffy," Willow said happily. Willow turned partially around and into Buffy's face that was hovering inches from hers.

"Good morning, lover," Buffy purred as her hands slid under Willow's robe and went straight to both breasts. Buffy covered Willow's mouth with her own and heard Willow's moan as she kissed Buffy back, moving her hands up Buffy pulled the robe open and off of Willow's shoulders, leaving her exposed. But to her surprise Buffy noticed Faith was staying back and broke the kiss off looking at Faith. "And why is the other woman I love staying away?"

"Because this isn't a repeat of last night, if you're with Willow it'll just be you B."

"Bullshit! I will not pick and choose which of you I'll be with like you're part of some personal harem Faith." Buffy turned her eyes to Willow, "That means you too Willow. This isn't going to be a mutually exclusive relationship. If you're tired or something or just not in the mood that's fine, but this is about us three, together!" Buffy's good mood had evaporated completely as she raked her eyes over both women. "Figure it out, do whatever, but until you two work it out neither of you are having Buffy." With that Buffy stalked back into the cabin, shedding her robe and dressing quickly, two minutes later Buffy was dressed and walking down the mountainside leaving Willow and Faith alone.

Willow and Faith looked at each other, both with the same mixture of confusion and surprise on their faces. "Well, that was a fun way to start the morning...not." Faith finally said.

"Do you think she's serious?" Willow asked.

One eyebrow went up, "Like a heart attack Red. So I'd get some warm blankets ready again because Buffy's not going to be in either of our beds right away."

"She can't do that Faith!"

Smirking, "She just did Red."

"So where does that leave us then and why? I don't get why she suddenly pulled that whole 'mutually exclusive' thing, this is all new to me and you. Well me mostly."

"You know B, she never does things by halves. All the way or not at all is our B." Faith said with an amused smirk. "Well I am not going back down before I get showered and cleaned up, you wanna join me?" Faith asked and saw the un-amused look on Willow's face. "No hanky panky Red. Just washing. Scouts honor," and Faith held up two fingers together.

"Ok, but I'll hold you to that."

Faith went under the waterfall first and started lathering up and soon heard Willow's footsteps as she moved under the water with her. Turning around with a bar of soap, "Turn around Red, I'll get your back." Faith offered and couldn't help noticing Willow stare at her chest and then blush as she realized she'd been caught before she finally turned around. Faith lathered her rag up and started washing Red's back before moving down to Willow's slim, well-shaped butt and washed it, thoroughly enjoying the feel of Willow's butt under her hands. But she kept her word and was good, mostly.

Willow returned the favor and washed Faith's back until she reached that nice soft butt, Bad Willow! No drooling over the very nice looking butt on Faith! Willow admonished herself before soaping Faith's butt cheeks, in-between and down her legs before rinsing the soap off and Willow had the sudden urge to lick some of the water off of Faith. "Okay, you're done."

Faith made sure to finish washing first and moved past Willow, letting her breasts brush up against Willow's back, "Sorry," Faith said, not feeling sorry one little bit.

Willow finished up and headed back down feeling more confused now than before she'd come up with Buffy only now she was alone since Buffy refused to see her.

4 Lavas (August 5th), FA 563

5 days later

One thing Willow did notice was that Buffy was pushing the other Slayers quite hard, training them mercilessly during the day and insisting on everyone expanding what they knew by learning new skills. Buffy's training was so physically demanding she'd already sent 3 Slayers to the hospital with broken bones and another 4 were so bruised the Healers refused to let them out of the hospital during Buffy's 'sparring' sessions just this last week and now none of the Slayers would 'spar' against Buffy.

Willow popped a grape in her mouth and leaned back against the tree behind her as she only half-listened to Faith, her mind preoccupied. _Do you find Faith attractive?_ Willow's little voice asked and the answer came back instantly _Yes, But am I ready to take that step and see her as a lover? That I'm not sure about, yeah she's sexy as all, there's no arguing that._ A pair of lips that touched hers with a feather light kiss interrupted Willow's thoughts. Willow saw Faith leaning closely, a sneaky smile on Faith's face.

"Thinking deep thoughts there Red? I could have had my way with you..." Faith teased.

"Just about Buffy, you heard what she's done?" Willow asked, knowing Faith hadn't seen Buffy since Buffy moved out of their home and into a spare cabin.

"You mean terrorizing the other Slayers? Yeah, and since they won't let her 'spar' anymore Buffy's now doing weapons training with Galen since he's the only one capable of keeping up with her and even the Elves won't train against her now."

"What are we going to do?" Willow asked, worried Buffy was going to hurt someone by accident, but this time seriously since Willow knew Buffy always 'held back' when she sparred or trained and now all of a sudden she wasn't...

"Red, unless you and I are going to start fucking like bunnies there's not a lot we can do." Faith said bluntly. "Look Will, Buffy's hurting, yes, but you and me isn't going to happen overnight and it's not something I think we should rush."

Willow just nodded her agreement because there was nothing else they could do…

4 Months Later...

14 Rhîw (December 14th), FA 563

Faith saw Buffy carrying a heavy backpack, and wearing her katana over her heavy fur coat and boots. Snow-shoes were strapped to the backpack as well. "Going somewhere B?" Faith tried asking lightly as she felt a dead weight form in her stomach.

"Out for a while. I can't stay here anymore. I see you and Will every day and it's hurting too much, I know you need time but I can't wait. I should be back by the spring or summer." Buffy said as she tried to fight her urge to reach out and touch Faith one last time.

"And if things aren't settled when you return?"

Buffy didn't pay attention to what Faith was saying as she inched closer to Faith until she was standing right on top of her. "Goddess I love you Faith!" Buffy said with tears in her eyes and leaned forward to kiss Faith lightly, only to have Faith take control and deepen the kiss between them. Groaning into Faith's mouth, Buffy dropped her backpack and slid her hands up under Faith's shirt and over her back before she grabbed one breast. Pulling herself away before she couldn't stop Buffy grabbed her backpack and ran as fast as she could, away from both the women she loved.

Faith watched Buffy run away from both her and Willow, until she couldn't see Buffy anymore before heading over to where she knew she'd find Willow at this time in the day.

Sure enough Faith found Willow teaching the 8 year-olds outside today and paused to watch Willow first. Willow was kneeling next to a young boy who was having problems understanding multiplying numbers. Faith watched Willow keep working at the problem with the boy until he finally finished it himself and was smiling at his accomplishment. Only then did Faith walk over into Willow's line of sight.

"Children, we're going to take a short break and then we'll get back to our numbers." Willow announced before walking over to Faith until she saw the stricken look on Faith's face. "Faith? What's wrong?"

"Let's walk Willow." Faith suggested and turned to put some distance between them and the children. Once she was sure they were far enough, "It's Buffy, she's left for the winter and she won't be coming back for a while."

"What do you mean she left?" Willow said with a touch of anger. "She just left us??"

"It was hard on her Red, Buffy could see us every day but she couldn't be with us, she could see us laughing and spending time together but she wasn't a part of it. It's like looking at something you desperately want from the other side of window that you can't get to." Faith saw Willow wasn't letting go that Buffy left. "I don't like it, but it was hurting her Will. What did you think she was feeling all this time?!"

"Okay, she was angry! I get that! But this is how she deals? She runs away every time, first after Angel, then the First and now this. It was HER damn stupid idea that we had to be all together!"

"Maybe it wasn't the brightest idea she's ever had Red, it doesn't make it wrong for her! That was what she felt was the only thing she could do and be fair to both of us!!" Faith yelled back. "You think I'm not angry and upset and scared shitless about B being gone like this!!" Faith turned away from Willow to hide the tears in her eyes.

Willow saw Faith turn away and realized she wasn't the only one hurting. Reaching her hand towards Faith's shoulder,

"Don't!"

Willow's hand faltered and fell to her side again, "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking I guess. This isn't only affecting me..."

"Did you think that this would mean nothing to me Red?" Faith asked bitterly. "I haven't been apart from Buffy since that day in the sickbay almost 3 years ago."

"Oh," Willow said in a small voice, realizing this was worse for Faith in many ways than it would be for her. She was used to being alone after all this time and that one night wouldn't change that, but Faith wasn't.

"Willow?" came a soft soprano voice behind her and Willow turned around to see Kendall standing nervously. "Uhmmm, why don't you take the rest of the day off? I can handle the kids."

"That's okay..."

"Go home and take care of Miss Faith. Right now I don't think either of you should be alone." Kendall said, not backing down to Willow. "And take tomorrow off as well, if you need more time just let me know." Kendall turned and left to go back to her class.

Giving in, Willow turned around to see Faith was gone. "Damn." Willow said before leaving in search of one stubborn Slayer.

From her perch in the tree, Faith heard Willow's soft tread behind and below her. "Up here Red."

"I've been looking all over for you Faith," Willow offered.

"I've been right here, you just haven't been looking hard enough."

Willow stopped under the tree branch where Faith was sitting 20' feet up above her. "Come on..." Willow saw Faith suddenly jump up and execute a backflip, landing silently behind her. "...down."

"So what is it you want Red?"

Turning around Willow saw the closed expression on Faith's face, "To say I'm sorry for acting like an ass and thinking I was the only one hurt by Buffy leaving." Willow stepped closer to Faith, "I really am sorry."

Faith accepted Willow's apology, seeing Willow did understand why she'd hurt her, "Apology accepted. You up for some cocoa? I heard from a little Birdie that Chione has a secret chocolate stash..." Faith said with her first smile in several hours.

"Yeah, that'd be nice."

Buffy's first day of travel had been fairly uneventful, with her only desire to put as much distance between her and the Forest that had been her home these past 2 years. Buffy had set up camp and a small fire to cook her food and for some warmth with the temperatures starting to drop now that it was deep into Fall and would be Winter within a month.

Unclasping the locket she wore on a gold chain around her neck, Buffy opened it the heart shaped locked and gazed at the two pictures inside longingly. Touching her forefinger to her lips and to each picture in turn before Buffy closed the locket and put the chain back on and under her clothes. Lying down Buffy pulled her fur blanket tightly around her before closing her eyes and feeling colder than it was out in the night.

The next morning Buffy was up with the first rays of the sun, eager to get moving and see what lay Southwest of them.

**End Chapter Eight and **

**Continued in Chapter Nine**


	10. Chapter 9

**Changing Destiny **

**Author's Note – This chappie is kinda short, but don't worry.**

**Italics - thoughts **

**  
Chapter Nine **

**58 Rhîw (January 17th), FA 563**

Buffy stopped for a short break after walking all morning and took a large sip of water from the waterskin just in time to see 10 men ride up on sturdy hill ponies, surrounding her. "Morning, something I can do for you?" Buffy asked calmly as she slipped her backpack off and dropped it onto the ground.

"Well, look at what we've found wandering around." A swarthy, bearded and armed man exclaimed as he got down from his horse and walked over to the girl. Anudar looked at the girl who carried a sword and thought she'd make good breeding stock for his tribe. _A little too pale, but I can live with that if she bears me strong boys!_

"I'm not wandering, now go and spear a sheep or something else equally useful."

"Oh ho!!! The girl has spirit!" Anudar said to him men, before his face turned hard, "I'll enjoy breaking your spirit girl and hearing you call me 'master'."

Buffy felt her temper growing short, "Why don't you go fuck your sister? Oh wait! You already are!" the smile on Buffy's face never wavered and never reached her eyes as she watched the leader, her right hand dropping to the scabbard and just below the guard of her katana. Her thumb pushed forward against the guard and the katana moved forward an inch, exposing the blade.

Anudar twirled the cudgel he was carrying, "I'll knock your teeth out for that girl and when I'm done with you I'll give you to my men for seconds..." as he stalked towards the girl, intent on beating her to within an inch of her life. No one mocked Anudar!

Buffy saw the reaction she wanted and she shifted her stance to her right as her left hand came down on the hilt of the katana just as the leader lifted his cudgel up. Drawing the katana in a lightning fast motion, the blade cleared the scabbard and slashed through the dirty leather armour and slicing the leader's stomach open before he even took one step. As he stumbled forward Buffy stepped out of the way and her sword came down on the back of his neck and through the spinal column as if it wasn't even there. A moment later the man's head rolled off his neck as he fell to the ground.

As she gazed at the other men surrounding her, Buffy contemptuously flicked the blood off of her katana. "Who's next?"

With a loud yell the rest of the men charged her and Buffy jumped up, executing a back flip over the man behind her. Her sword flashed as she came down and slashed the closest man's back open in three places. As he screamed Buffy dropped into a full split to avoid the knife that came flying through the air at her even as she slashed the legs of another one of her attackers crippling him...

Less than two minutes later, all 9 of her attackers were dead or dying with their leader. Walking over to the closest man, Buffy wiped her katana off on the clothing of the dead man before sheathing it. Taking her pick of the horses, Buffy found one that looked good before removing any personal items from the horse and tossing them aside, keeping the saddle and bit. Gathering her things and tying them onto the horse, Buffy mounted it and started the horse moving at a trot.

Karfal walked through the bodies that littered the ground before he found Anudar's headless and gutted body. Signaling the other men with him he headed back to his mount. "It's Anudar all right. Looks like he angered the wrong person this time." Karfal said to Wulf, his second in command.

"So now what?" Wulf asked, wondering what Karfal had in mind for the person who'd killed his worst enemy.

"We stay out of his way and let him pass. I saw hoof prints of one horse heading further South-East, in the meantime we strike while the metal's hot. Get Anudar's head and put it on a spear tip for all to see, his forces'll crumble once they see Anudar's dead and we can make his lands ours."

**20 Echuir (February 20th), FA 563**

**Alexandria**

"You think she'll be okay?" Willow asked worriedly, not feeling too hungry as worry gnawed at her.

Faith put the piece of bread she was about to eat down. "Red, this is B we're talking about. Besides Sachiko, Mai-Lin and Kitara are following only a half day behind. If Buffy runs into anything she can't handle Sachiko and the others will be there to pull her out."

"True... It's just..."

"You're worried. I know, you wouldn't be Willow if you weren't worried. But you can't let that keep you from taking care of yourself," Faith said, understanding Willow's worry even as she took pains to hide her own fears about Buffy. "Now are you going to make me eat all these dumplings on my own?" Faith said teasingly. Picking up a fried dumpling with her fingers Faith waved it under Willow's nose.

Willow smiled at Faith's attempt to distract her and knew that Faith was right. As soon as the dumpling moved close enough Willow took the dumpling and Faith's fingers into her mouth before Faith pulled her fingers free. "Why Faith, I can't tell, is that you or the dumpling that tastes so good?" Willow asked, turning the tables on Faith.

Faith felt herself blush slightly, surprised by Willow's turn in the conversation. "You'll just have to find out yourself sometime Red."

The rest of the meal continued with small talk as they fed each other with their fingers, enjoying the shared intimacy. Faith leaned down, her head resting on Willow's lap. "We should do that more often, I am stuffed!"

"Same here." Willow said in agreement, feeling content and sleepy.

**One Month Later… **

**Alexandria **

**50 Echuir (March 22nd), FA 563**

As much as they wouldn't admit it, with Buffy away, a huge stumbling block was now gone as both women were distracted by Buffy's presence, so much so that even during their 'dates' Buffy would constantly come up as a topic of conversation. But in the several months with Buffy gone, Faith and Willow had found themselves drawing closer together and while they hadn't taken that last step, many of their dates ended with both of them feeling hot and bothered.

Buffy in the meantime had put her time away to good use, sharpening her survival skills that had grown rusty with disuse over the last several years. Most of this walkabout had been pretty boring, Buffy thought, not including a few minor scrapes she'd had, but nothing that she couldn't handle and she was looking for a challenge. Her last little 'incident' had yielded some possibly interesting information though, according to the Orc Shaman before he died, there was a Fire Demon that was making it's home somewhere. Unfortunately, before she could find out where, the Shaman had died on her, leaving her with only that tantalizing bit of information.

**Forests of Enedwaith**

**Yestarë (March 28th), SA 1**

Sachiko walked through the Orc outpost and only found dead Orcs littering the ground, but no sign of Buffy. Stopping Sachiko signaled the 'All Clear' when she found Buffy's trademark staked heads with the Elven rune for Dagnir on a piece of wood and waited for Mai Lin and Kitara to come on in with the horses.

A few minutes later Sachiko saw Mai-Lin and Kitara ride up with her mare in tow. "Buffy strikes again?" Kitara asked.

"Yep." Was Sachiko's answer as she mounted her mare Sharptooth, so named because of the mare's propensity to bite anyone but her.

"What is it now? Five Orc tribes she's torn through? Gods, that woman seriously needs to get laid before she wipes them all out and leaves nothing for us!" Kitara said dryly.

"No, it's seven and Kitara, she's just as bad when she is getting some, if not worse!" Sachiko said, as she turned her horse around and headed back on Buffy's trail, leaving two very surprised Slayers behind her.

**Later that evening…**

Sachiko tried to ignore the noises coming from the tent to little success. It was bad enough she was outside on guard duty, but to hear those 2 shagging like minks didn't help either, even if she did run 'that way'.

Making one last check of the perimeter, Sachiko sat down a short distance away from the camp and took out the silver mirror Aiesha had given her. Taking out her canteen, Sachiko opened it and carefully let 3 drops of water fall onto the mirror as she held it face-up. The water splashed as it hit the glass as if the glass itself was water before an image of Aiesha sitting in front of a fire appeared.

"Chiko? Problem?" Aiesha asked, her dark features frowning.

"No, just checking in. Buffy's still on a tear after a month and a half. The girl is seriously putting a world of hurt on anyone or anything that gets in her way."

"Goddess, what's she done now?" Aiesha asked.

"Just wiped out her seventh Orc tribe and her third fort. I've seen tracks that quite a few are moving East. They may not know who or what is doing this, but they aren't stupid either. That doesn't include the ones stupid enough to go after her. So how are things progressing on your end with Faith and Willow?"

Aiesha brightened up at that question. "Good actually. I don't think it'll be long till Faith and Willow finally 'do the nasty'. Those two are getting cozier every day."

"Good. I'm getting tired of the snow out here and no company at night. And listening to Mai and Kitara shagging at night is driving me nuts and the sooner Buffy's back, the better because I'm getting worried what Buffy might try if she runs out of Orcs to Hunt."

"It shouldn't be long at all, if you can keep Buffy out of trouble for few more weeks." said Aiesha.

"By the way, with Faith and Willow's attention sidetracked, talk to Galen about pairings with the Elves before it becomes an issue, I know that a few other girls have approached me about them and I don't want any surprises popping up for them or us. He might go to Phaerhuine with that, but that's okay."

Aiesha frowned, "Are you sure about that? Isn't that something Buffy or Faith should be doing? We don't exactly have the same relationship with Phaer that Buffy does."

"Yes, Yes and No we don't. But they're busy and that's why they have us, to handle the details they miss."

"Okay," Aiesha said reluctantly, not really happy with idea of having to talk possibly talk to Phaer.

"Talk to you later, A." Sachiko said, ending the conversation as she returned the mirror to the black, velvet bag and closed it.

Buffy was weathering out the same freak snow storm, except she was in her mini-tent and the fire was keeping her warm from the gusting winds that had just started outside. But right now Buffy was pouring over the map she had and going over what she'd found for clues to the location of the Fire Demons lair.

**Faith's cabin**

**Same Night**

"Looks like you're snowed in here tonight Will," Faith said as she saw the 2' - 3' snow drifts outside her window.

"I'm pretty sure I'll live."

"So how do you want to do this?" Willow asked, wondering what Faith was going to call.

"Do what?" Faith asked, completely not understanding what Willow meant.

"The bed! Do you want the bed or the couch?"

"Red, I'm not sleeping on the couch in my own home and neither are you! That bed is wayy big enough for the two of us."

"Uhmmm, errr, uhhhh...!" Willow stammered, nervously.

"Look Will, we're both adults. And sleeping in that bed is all I am looking to do tonight, okay?" Faith said trying to reassure a skittish Willow.

"Okay, you're right." Willow said finally. One side of Willow was jumping up and down for joy and yelling, _"Wooo Hoo!! Hot damn! This'll be fun!"_ While the other side of Willow was still scared of the idea and briefly considered braving the weather to get back to her own place. When Willow came out of her musings on whether this was a Good Idea or a Bad One, Faith had gotten changed into sweat pants and a sweatshirt.

Faith saw the mixed look on Willow's face, but chose to ignore it as she headed to the bedroom and getting the extra pillows for Willow.

Willow saw a pair of sweats about her size left out for her and realized that they must be Buffy's. A wave of loneliness washed over Willow briefly before Willow pushed it aside and quickly changed out of her dress and into the sweats before catching up to Faith in the bedroom.

"I've got pillows for you Red," Faith said as she pulled the covers and blanket back before turning the lamp off and throwing the room into near total dark.

Grateful for the darkness Willow slid into bed, pulling the blanket close. "Night Faith."

"Night Red." Faith hid the wistful thought she had of taking that next step and making love to Willow, but she knew that that wasn't going to happen, tonight at least.

Willow lay in the bed thinking for several minutes before she finally spooned her body against Faith's and her arm went over Faith's waist, to rest just under Faith's breasts. Willow felt Faith snuggle against her before settling down and clutching her arm. Comfortable where she was, Willow thought quietly about the last month with Faith, the time they'd been spending together and how her feelings had changed from just accepting Faith to being friends with her and in a bit of surprise, realizing that she cared deeply for Faith. _Why am I waiting? For Buffy? She's the one who said we had to figure things out, well nothing's going to get worked out any further unless I'm willing to take things to the next level in this relationship._ With that thought Willow moved her hand down to Faith stomach and slid her hand up under Faith's sweatshirt. Her hand sliding up to touch Faith's breasts, as she squeezed and caressed both breasts, Willow felt the nipples harden under her touch and Faith arch forward even as she pushed herself against Willow's groin.

Faith was getting ready to go to sleep when she felt Willow spoon up against her from behind and then to her even more surprise, Willow slid her hand under her shirt. After a few minutes of this Faith knew if it continued it wasn't going to stop there and turned around to face Willow. "Red, are you sure? Because if we start, I'm not going to stop. I'm going to feast on every inch of you and listen to you scream my name."

Willow looked into Faith's eyes. "I've never been more sure Faith,"

"Good," Faith said right before kissing Willow hard, her tongue demanding entrance to Willow's mouth even as she took Willow's hands and put them back on her breasts and squeezing them.

Willow straddled Faith's waist and pushed up the sweatshirt until it was pulled over Faiths' head but still on her arms which were now held by the shirt above Faith's head. Leaning down Willow licked the valley in between both breasts and inhaled Faith's scent.

With the shirt behind her neck, she was partially bound, her arms were no longer free and Faith found herself turned on by the idea of being held and trusting Willow enough to let her do what she wanted. "Red, I always knew you had a bit of the dominatrix inside you after hearing about vamp-Willow." Faith teased only to inhale as Willow started sucking on her nipples, gently nipping them with her teeth. Faith knew that that was going to leave a mark and she didn't care one bit.

Willow took her time starting at Faith's neck and slowly moving down to the collar bone and then Faith's chest, licking, sucking and tasting every part of Faith, taking special care to feast on every inch of Faith's breasts. Finally Willow licked her way down to Faith's stomach and to where the sweatpants started at her waist. Sitting up, Willow pulled the sweatpants down and inch or so, tasting the skin and pulling the pants down further, each time nibbling on all the newly revealed skin until the sweats were down to Faith's knees. Leaning down Willow ran her tongue across the Faith's groin and down to the inside of Faiths' thighs that opened up to give Willow access. Pushing her face against the swollen lips, Willow could smell Faith's arousal and see the wetness that had gathered there. Finally, Willow inhaled deeply the Faith's scent of Faith's arousal before planting a kiss on those now-swollen lips. Willow heard Faith's moan at the kiss before running her tongue up and down Faith legs, licking up the wetness that was there and intoxicated by the smell and taste of her lover. Willow heard Faith moan and push herself down, "Please Willow...please! I need you there!" Willow heard Faith moan out loud.

"Is it this?" Willow asked as she ran her tongue up and down against the folds before backing her head slightly and moving a hand to easily push two fingers partially inside Faith before pulling them out. "Or that?"

When she didn't hear an answer from Faith, Willow slid both fingers back into Faith and proceeded to use her tongue on Faith as well and Willow finally heard Faith's loud groan, "Gods, yes!!! PLEASE!"

Willow moved her fingers out of the way and slid her tongue inside Faith, lapping up all the juices that were coming out and feeling Faith's body start to tense up some. Pleased at Faith's reaction Willow sped up in response, taking time to make sure she tasted all of Faith before sliding her fingers back inside Faith.

"More Will. Faster!" Faith moaned, as she felt her body starting to tense up as it built up towards its climax. After months of being cut off from anything, Faith knew she wasn't going to last long this round, her body ached too much to hold out. "Gods, yes!" Faith yelled as she felt a third finger slide into her and Willow hit that 'spot' that drove her right up and over the edge as her body exploded. "WILLOW!!!!!!!" Faith yelled as she saw spots before her eyes and she came hard and Willow drove her body over the edge again until she couldn't take it anymore and touched Willow's arm. Sweating and exhausted Faith felt herself slow down finally. After lying with Willow against her, "Gods Willow, you almost killed me woman!" Faith said with a very satisfied grin.

"Maybe, but I hope you don't think that that's it." Willow said, now that she had come to some decisions about Faith in her life.

"No, but give me a minute to 'recuperate' from you and I'll show you the real meaning of 'Slayer stamina'. "

"Good, I like my snuggle bunnies," Willow said holding Faith

"Bunnies?" Faith asked.

"Bunnies. As in more than one because I can't see not having either of you in my life and I finally understand what Buffy meant when she said both or not at all. The question is, are you okay with it?" Willow asked, fairly sure she knew what Faith's answer would be.

"Yeah I am, but you know it won't be a boring relationship Red. Neither Buffy or me are easy to be with sometimes..."

Willow hushed Faith, "If I wanted boring in my life I wouldn't have made love to Buffy or you all those months ago. I know what I want and that is both you and Buffy. Now come over here and show your Willow some lovin'!" Willow said with a sultry look on her face.

"My lady orders and I gladly obey..."

**End Chapter Nine and **

**Continued in Chapter Ten**


	11. Chapter 10

**Changing Destiny **

**Author's Note – This is where everything gets interesting and a reunion of sorts.**

Howard – Yeah, it could have but after everything they'd been through choice in life partners pretty much isn't that big a deal anymore. Elves didn't frown on them, (look at Elrond who was a half-Elf and was highly respected) but they didn't encourage them either.

Exiled – when was Buffy's live ever simple? grin

CPTSkip – you'll start to see the changes later on, because they will be making some changes to Middle-Earth! Right now we're wrapping things up about their arrival and B/W & F's relationship 

Thanks to everyone else for being patient 

**Chapter Ten **

**Northern banks of the River Isen**

**10 Ethuil (April 7th), SA 1**

Buffy woke up, yelling "WILLOW!" and it took a minute for Buffy to figure out she wasn't lying in a bed, but she was sleeping in her cold tent in the middle of a snowstorm. Her body was covered with sweat and she was short of breath, and Buffy wasn't sure why she'd dreamt about making love to Willow. Ahh, it's probably because my body's trying to tell me something. Too bad it wasn't real, I'd rather be in a warm bed with them both right now. Buffy thought wistfully.

Buffy saw light coming through and peeked out her tent, seeing only a great white snowfield. Dressing warmly, Buffy headed towards what her map said was the White Mountains in the distance to the South. Packing her things and her tent up, Buffy didn't seen any sign of her pony and sighed, It would have been nice, but I guess not. Buffy thought as he shouldered her backpack and weapons, grateful she'd thought to bring snow shoes as she started walking towards the distant mountains.

**White Mountains**

**32 Ethuil (April 29th), SA 1**

It had taken her almost four weeks to get to the White Mountains with all the interruptions of bad weather, Orcs and other odd problems, but she could finally start searching for the demon's lair. The first two places she checked were empty of anything except bats and bugs, so with some hope Buffy hoped that number three would be the charm as he made her way into the cave.

Stopping at the high cave entrance, Buffy saw tracks on the ground, but noticed that none of the animals had actually gone into the cave and instead had veered wide of it. That alone spoke volumes, but as she walked into the large cave mouth and started walking Buffy noticed the floor of the cave had been rubbed smooth as something slid along it for years until it became smooth as glass.

As she continued on deeper into the mountains, the cave narrowed until it was only large enough to let a car through instead of a Mack truck and as she looked around as she walked around Buffy noticed some places where the walls were burnt black by fire. When she finally stopped at the end of the tunnel, Buffy saw that it was now partially blocked by rocks that fell from the roof.

Something glistened on the floor and Buffy stopped, kneeling down and after moving a few medium sized rocks found a black scale was what had caught her eye. Turning the scale over and then back, Buffy looked it over but had no clue what this could be from but it was the smell of sulfur in the air that made her think she might be close…

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Sachiko cursed whatever god had caused the freak snowstorm that forced them to find shelter and it had taken some time to dig themselves out of the huge piles of snow. Between that and traveling on foot Sachiko knew they'd lost valuable time.

Sachiko watched as Kitara returned from scouting ahead and walked over towards her.

"Good news and bad news, boss." Kitara said as she walked up to Sachiko. "Good news is, Buffy headed inside a cave in the mountains not more than a little while ago."

Sachiko felt a headache coming when she heard just half of the news. "And the 'bad' news?"

"Something BIG lives around here, maybe inside the cave. Not far from here I found a huge pile of bones from cows, horses, sheep to name a few of whatever else its eating and Buffy's tracks lead straight in there."

Sachiko was about to say something when she felt the hair on her arms suddenly stand up and a cold shiver ran down her back. Without thinking about it, Sachiko grabbed Kitara and pulled her down with her to the ground and lay flat as 'something' big flew over them. Whatever it was it was big and fast, but it's headed right towards the mountains where Buffy's decided to go 'exploring'.

Kitara looked at Sachiko with a questioning look on her face. "What was that about?" Kitara asked more curious than upset after getting dragged into a huge snow drift.

Sachiko scanned the skies looking for whatever it was when she saw something circling high in the sky. Pulling out a small pair of binoculars, Sachiko looked to the sky and almost dropped them as she saw what it was before it dove down and disappeared a moment later. "Oh shit! Oh SHIT! OH SHIT!!" Sachiko cursed, shoving the binoculars back into their holder on her hip.

Closing her eyes, Sachiko took a deep breath and centered body and mind. "Okay, we've got big problems. That thing that flew over us? It's a dragon and guess where it was headed? I need you to go as fast as you can and catch up with Buffy, hopefully she stopped to take a piss or something and you can reach her before the dragon finds her. I'll call Aiesha and let her know what's going on and Mai-Lin and I'll catch up with you. Go!" Sachiko watched as Kitara just nodded before running towards the cave. "Good luck and stay safe." Sachiko said quietly before grabbing the mirror and activating it with the 3 drops of water.

It seemed to take forever before Aiesha's image finally appeared in the mirror. "Aiesha, we have problems from Hell going on. Buffy's just walked into a dragon's lair. Get everyone here yesterday or you're going to be short 4 Slayers." Sachiko dropped the mirror into the black velvet bag, ending the conversation even as she tucked it away and readied her weapons just as Mai-Lin returned.

"Trouble?" Mai-Lin asked, already knowing the answer as she shrugged off her own backpack into the snow and strung her recurve bow up.

"The biggest." Sachiko answered as she waited for Mai-Lin to finish getting ready. Both women took off in quick run towards the mountain cave where Buffy was.

-------

Aiesha sat in shock at Sachiko's message before jumping up, her robe falling off her body even as she ran into the bedroom to grab her clothes that were scattered about the room. As she pulled on the last of her clothes Arhilion stirred and woke.

"_Melethron?"_ Arhilion asked sleepily as he saw Aiesha dressing quickly.

"Gotta go. I'll tell you later." Aiehsa said, giving Arhilion a kiss on the lips, "Love you!" And Aiesha ran out of her home and to Faith's house.

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Faith heard something ringing loudly and reached out to turn the alarm off only to realize there was no alarm clock and as she recognized the alarm bell that was to be rung only in the direst of emergencies. Sliding out of bed, Faith quickly dressed before shaking Willow and pulling the blankets off. "Red. Get up." Willow just rolled over and pulled the blankets back over her. Grabbing the pitcher of water on the nightstand, Faith dumped the water over Willow's head and watched her jump up sputtering even as she had a look that'd kill on her face. "Get up! Trouble!" Faith said before kissing Willow on the lips and leaving.

Faith walked to the center of their town where she could see about half the town was gathered already. Pushing her way to the front, Faith saw Aiesha, Rainne and Yi-Min talking even as two girls were helping dress Rainne and Yi-Min in their armour.

"Aiesha, what's going on?" Faith asked, worried now.

"Chiko just checked in, Buffy's walked into a dragon's lair." Aiesha blurted out.

"Mother... Okay, where and how far and how to we get there before it's too late?" Faith asked Aiesha just as Willow ran up and slid her arm around Faith's waist.

"We need a Gate, but a smaller one and it's too far to ride. Buffy's all the way down by the White Mountains, about 250 miles from here." Aiesha explained.

Rainne saw the look of fear and then anger of Faiths' face. "Faith, we've got 200 Slayers ready to move in the next 30 minutes. She'll be okay when we get there."

Faith was about to yell for someone to go get her armour when she heard Rainne speak up again. "Faith, we sent Charlie to get your armour and weapons and bring them back." Nodding her thanks, Faith took a few deep breaths to try and stay calm in front of the Slayers. She felt a tug on her shirt and Faith saw it was Willow who nodded reassuringly before walking over to Aiesha and those of the Coven that were here so they could begin to prepare to cast the Portal spell.

Faith started cursing as she was pacing and waiting for her armour and weapons to arrive, the minute she'd waited having been already too long a delay in getting to Buffy.

**White Mountains**

**Same Day**

Buffy climbed over the partially blocked entranceway and into a cavern the size football stadium. A large section of the ceiling inside the cavern had collapsed, letting the sunlight in just enough to see. Buffy started walking around carefully, looking for signs of the Fire Demon when she saw an odd shaped rock. Kneeling down Buffy touched it and it rolled over to reveal a skeletal face and Buffy realized the 'rock' was in fact a large helmet and just a few feet away Buffy saw a headless body in armour. Taking a moment, Buffy slid her pack off, leaving it by the wall hidden in the shadows even as she readied her weapons.

Moving forward slowly and cautiously, Buffy caught sight of a large mound of something large and shiny. As she walked closer silently, Buffy saw the 'something' was a large mound of gold and silver coins, gold cups, gems and other valuables. But Buffy also saw more skeletal bodies of dead men in armour. Well this doesn't look like a demons' lair, if I didn't know better... But Buffy never finished that thought as something swooped into the cavern from the opening in the ceiling far above her. Quickly, Buffy moved away from the mound and into the deep shadows.

Buffy held back a gasp as a massive black scaled head and snout first appeared over the mound of gold, sniffing about before the rest of the creature slowly made its self visible. Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me here! Buffy cursed mentally when she saw what it was that lived here and it wasn't a Fire Demon, although to the Orcs there wouldn't be much of a difference. Both dealt out fiery death quite well.

The massive scaled body moved slowly as it moved around looking to find a spot to settle in even as the wings were outspread reached to both sides of the massive cavern. All in all, Buffy had to admit, this one made the ones she'd read about in stories look like babies in comparison. From snout to tail, Buffy guessed the dragon had to be over 100' feet long with a wingspan easily twice of that and the head and mouth could easily swallow Giles' car and barely need to chew. But it was the slitted, gold eyes that Buffy found the most unnerving thing about the dragon, it seemed that they could see right into her and chilled her to the bone when they passed over her.

Frumgurund made himself comfortable even as he looked around his lair. He could smell one of the race of Men in here with him, he also sensed the Power inside this one as well. "So, little crunchy one. Why have you come to my lair? Was it the thought of gold or glory that brought you to your death today?" Frumgurund asked even as he moved his head around looking for the stranger.

Buffy bit back her surprise as the Dragon spoke out loud to her. Realizing not answering could be as bad as answering Buffy decided to answer. "I was looking for a Fire Demon, but you're not it."

Frumgurund swiveled his head around his eyes piercing the darkness and the Protections that were woven into the cloak she wore. "So, you have come looking for a fire demon and not Frumgurund's treasure." The dragon said doubtfully, even as it tried to figure out what it was that had come to his lair. She smelled like one of the race of Men...but not. It was very confusing to Frumgurund. "Then why not leave if my treasure is not what you seek or could there be another truth to this story of yours?"

Buffy felt a deep cold settle into her as the dragon's gaze past over her each time with its' golden eyes. Stepping to her right and behind a large rock Buffy pulled the cloak over her again, praying that whatever Will did to this cloak would keep her hidden. "Nope, no other truths here." Buffy said before moving again in the shadows and around the dragon.

"Liar! You may not smell of greed, but you saw the signs and entered my lair anyway. Tell Frumgurund the truth and maybe I will let you live."

"Sorry about that Frummy, but somehow I don't think I can take your word. You don't seem to be the truth-telling type of Worm. Now, if you were a dragon instead of an earthworm, well things might be different." Buffy said, quickly moving to another spot before the dragon could bring his head around.

"**YOU DARE COMPARE FRUMGRUND TO A MERE DIRT EATING VERMIN!"** Frumgurund roared and the cavern shook with his rage.

---------

Sachiko, Mai-Lin and Kitara arrived at the partially collapsed entrance just in time to hear the dragon roar and yell.

"I can see Buffy hasn't lost her touch for getting her opponents pissed off." Kitara said dryly.

---------

Sniffing, "So... Your 'friends' have come to help you. I may not be able to find you, but they have no such protection and I will enjoy sucking the marrow from their bones..." Frumgurund said as he moved his body closer to the entranceway.

"No!" Buffy whispered and realized her mistake just in time to jump backwards and avoid the tail that slammed into the spot where she'd been standing, shattering the stone.

With a speed that Buffy didn't think was possible the dragon whirled around to face her, it's sharp 4' long tail spear hovering over its head and its wings outspread.

"Foolish whatever you are! You have given your hiding place away and Frumgurund will feast on your bones for dinner! Many years has it been since I tasted the flesh of Men." Frumgurund said even as he narrowed down where the girl was hiding.

Buffy saw two arrows fly out of nowhere, hit the dragons' neck and bounce off as if they'd hit steel plate and the dragon's head turned to look behind at who had attacked it. Jumping up next to the dragon Buffy brought her sword down on the dragon's neck with all her strength only to see her sword hit the neck scales and leave a small dent. Jumping backwards suddenly Buffy narrowly missed being impaled by the 4' foot tail spear that sank into the hard stone floor…

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Sachiko saw both of Mai-Lin's arrows hit and bounce off the dragons armour. Grabbing Mai-Lin who was nocking another arrow, Sachiko pulled her backwards and tumbled down just as a gout of fire shot through the opening, melting the rocks all around where Mai-Lin had stood a moment ago.

---------

Buffy saw the dragon was still occupied with her friends, even as it fought to free its tail from where it hit sank into the stone. Taking aim at the thin part of the tail, Buffy swung hard and saw the broadsword bite into the spot where the tail spear ended and get stuck, waving its armoured tail about black blood spilled out. Another hard tug and Buffy was thrown back 20' feet as the dragon ripped his tail free along with a large section of stone.

Buffy heard the dragon roar in pain and rolled to her left behind a medium sized stalagmite. "Sachiko, if that's you then GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE NOW!" Buffy yelled as she jumped up to her feet and came around front to get the dragons attention only to run right into the side of the dragon's head. Swinging her sword down, Buffy hit the left nostril and black blood exploded into her face. Buffy barely dodged the snapping jaws, shoving her broadsword into the dragon's mouth so that the sword was wedged to keep the dragon from closing its mouth unless it wanted to impale itself on the sword in its mouth.

Angrily the dragon whipped its head around as Buffy held onto the sword and tried not to get thrown off. The dragon may not have been able to bite her, but that didn't stop her arm from getting sliced up on the dragon's razor sharp teeth as she was holding on for dear life. Finally Buffy saw the dragon was going to try and pry her off with a claw and when the dragon shook its head Buffy let go of the sword before flying halfway across the length of the cavern to land hard even as she tried to tuck and roll. Blood flowed from her nose and her right arm as Buffy got to her feet and ran to the shadows to try and hide as she tried to figure out what to do next.

Something distracted it and Buffy heard the dragon roar angrily again, turning around before breathing a giant ball of flame at something. Looking around for something to use as a weapon, Buffy found saw something glowing with a blue light a few feet away. Glancing back, Buffy saw the dragon was still preoccupied by something else and moved over to see what the glow was.

Stuck in the stone floor, point down Buffy saw an unusual looking bastard sword and grabbed the large hilt with both hands, there was a sudden jolt as she touched the hilt and then she was pulling hard to free it from the stone it was trapped in only to have the sword slide out easily.

Buffy heard the dragon roar in pain and ran towards the dragon with her new sword. Just as she reached the dragon Buffy had to dodge to her left to avoid being crushed in a foot stomp by one of the dragon's back feet.

-------

Sachiko didn't have time to mourn Mai-Lin, she was too busy trying to avoid getting stomped on by a very pissed off dragon. Sachiko saw the dragon rear back and open its mouth and jumped for the large boulder that lay 10' feet away. A giant gout of flame scorched everything where she had been standing and completely melted the sword that been stuck in its mouth. The ground and wall where the flames hit now looked like black glass.

--------

Buffy came up from the roll to her feet and brought the glowing blue sword down on the dragon's tail and to see black blood fly as she cut through the scale and into the dragons' tail. Unfortunately that got the dragon's attention and Buffy saw the dragon's long neck twist around and it peered down at her. "Shit!" Buffy cursed and dodged to her left barely avoiding the dragon's mouth that snapped shut where she'd been just a moment earlier. As Buffy rolled to her feet, she saw the dragon turn around completely and focus its attention on her.

The dragons' front feet came down on either side of her as it reared back and opened its jaws impossibly wide. Running towards the dragon, Buffy felt something sear her back and a rush of burning air that threw her into the dragon's body. Thrusting her sword forward, Buffy saw it punch through the plate mail like scales and into the dragon's chest, but Buffy didn't have time to savor that as she had to avoid another double foot-stomp and ran to get around behind the dragon.

Buffy went to lean back and screamed in pain as her back touched the stone. "God, that hurts. Shit!" Buffy said as she realized she was hurt worse than she thought. Buffy's nose was assaulted by the stench of burning meat and realized the dragon had killed someone. A cold anger burned through her at that knowledge and Buffy looked out from behind the boulder and saw the dragon looking around for her. With the dragon's head turned away Buffy leapt out and swung the sword at the dragon's leg, hoping to cripple it and cut deep only to feel something leathery hit her and throw her into a wall. Dazed, Buffy barely held onto her sword as she hit the floor and fought to move from where she landed.

------

Sachiko saw Buffy go down and charged the dragon, her sword hitting the dragon on the snout and close to his eyes, but just missing the eye itself as her blade sparked when it hit the dragons' scales. Out of the corner of her eye Sachiko saw something big right before she felt something hit her and found herself flying through the air to land hard high on the cavern wall.

-------

Buffy saw Sachiko try and distract the dragon only to get hit by one of its wings and thrown back high in the air. Ignoring how stupid her little voice was telling her this was, Buffy ran towards Sachiko and caught her before she could hit the ground head first, using her own body to cushion Sachiko's fall. "OOOPH!" Buffy groaned as she had the air knocked out of her, but got up and pulled Sachiko behind some cover before the dragon could take advantage.

Sachiko looked up from the ground where she was lying. "That was stupid Buffy." Sachiko said weakly.

"My problem, not yours."

The boulder shuddered as the dragon brought his tail down like a club down once and then twice and the boulder cracked like an egg before the third blow shattered it completely and Buffy saw she and Sachiko were left exposed.

Grabbing her sword once again, Buffy needed to get the dragon's attention and keep it so she charged the dragon, dodging to her right to avoid one foot stomp. Brining her sword around for a hard swing Buffy sliced the dragon's leg open only to see the tail spear a second too late as it impaled her in her right shoulder. Screaming in pain, Buffy felt herself being lifted up even with the dragon's head and she held onto the sword.

"So little crunchy one. You have lost and I will feast on your bones this night."

With that Buffy felt the dragon move her above its head and opened its mouth. "NOT. THIS. FUCKING. NIGHT!" Buffy yelled as she pushed herself forward off the spear to land balanced on the dragon's open jaws and thrust the sword point down into its left eye. But before she could do anything, Buffy felt something slam into her and throw her across the cavern and into the wall before falling another 10' feet to land face down onto the ground.

Everything hurt and Buffy found she couldn't see out of one eye as she tried pulling herself into a sitting position just in time to see the dragon heading towards her right before there was a bright explosion near the dragon's body that threw it sideways and into the cavern wall. As it hit, the rocks and stalactites fell from the cavern ceiling… Falling over, Buffy felt hands touching her head, but she couldn't see who it was there was only a feeling of safety before she felt the darkness pull her under...

-------

Faith had caught Buffy as she fell over and gently lowered her to the ground, Faith saw the blood and bruises and burns all over Buffy. "You rest B, you done good. Now it's our turn." Faith said to Buffy who had finally passed out from her injuries.

Faith saw the dragon get up only to get hit by 3 more blasts of white lightning that arced from Willow's hands, each one throwing the dragon into the wall with more force than the last only to be followed up by a flight of arrows, some of which bounced off the dragons armour, but still more pierced the dragon's hide. "My turn," Faith said as she picked up the sword Buffy clutched.

Five Slayers ran towards the black dragon as it suddenly avoided a blast of lightning and launched its massive bulk forward and towards the new attackers. The dragon opened its mouth and a large ball of flame engulfed the first girl, another was crushed by a foot stomp that left a bloody stain. While 2 more were blown backwards as the dragon's wings created gusts of wind that sent small flying objects flying like daggers from the mound it slept on, the last Slayer either through luck or skill attacked the dragon with the spear she was wielding and forced the dragon to back up to avoid being impaled.

Faith charged the dragon and more Slayers had managed to get inside the cavern but the tide had turned from their favour as the dragon attacked Willow and put her on the defensive, forcing her to choose between attacking it or protecting those she was with from the dragon's wrath.

Once she was close to the dragon, Faith saw that Buffy had hurt it, but as big and tough as this thing was it wasn't going to give up without taking them with it. Grabbing the closest person, Faith saw it was a Slayer she didn't recognize. "Get to Yi-Min, tell her to have her archers keep firing non-stop at the dragon. We need to keep it off balance and not give it time to think. K?" Faith saw the girl nod and dash out, narrowly avoiding a bloody tail spear before getting away.

Faith saw the bloody tail spear and knew what had hit Buffy in the chest now, counting to 30 Faith rallied seven other Slayers and when the count in her head turned to 29. Faith lead a charge towards the dragon only to see it whip its head around impossibly fast and open its mouth as a huge ball of flame shot out and Faith knew at that instant she was dead, only she wasn't. Pausing, Faith saw the flames had bounced off a shield around them. Way to go Red! Faith cheered only to see 2 of her group weren't so lucky and were caught outside the shield, their charred corpses lying twisted horribly.

Anger boiled in Faith's veins, these were women who'd survived the War, the Orcs and many of whom she knew, and this creature was killing them! **"RRAAAA!!!"** Faith yelled and charged through the shield that felt like she was pushing her way through pudding until she was out and up to the dragon. Dodging a foot stomp, Faith turned and swung her sword at a leg that showed 2 deep wounds already and her sword cut entirely through the dragons' leg causing black blood to spray all over and cover her. But all Faith wanted was to make this dragon pay, pay for hurting Buffy and killing her friends…

Faith heard the dragon roar and flap his wings and start to fly up. Black blood fell like raindrops from the open wounds as the dragon flew up towards the opening in the cavern roof. The warmth inside the cavern disappeared as the temperature plummeted suddenly and Faith could see her breath on the air only to see a dark spot falling towards her, Faith sprinted out of the way as the dragon came rushing towards her and hit the ground like a meteor, the shockwave picking her up and throwing her forward 15' feet.

Picking herself up off the ground Faith turned around and saw the massive impact crater where the dragon hit. Its wings were shattered and broken and it limped on a back leg, but still it refused to give in and die. An ear splitting roar shattered the cavern only to be interrupted as 100 arrows peppered the dragons body, finding chinks in the once near-impervious armour of its scales that were now broken and charred in places across the dragons' body.

"COME ON!" Faith urged the remaining Slayers as she charged the crippled dragon.

Slowly but surely Faith saw them push the dragon back as its body was pierced with arrows, several spears and swords were stuck in its hide and still it refused to give up. Finally, they were able to push the dragon back using spears that Phaer had 'loaned' them, those it seemed to fear more than their swords or arrows.

Willow floated down next to her and Faith saw the worried and determined look on her lovers face. "My turn now," Faith said before she moved up to the dragon, signaling the Slayers holding the dragon at bay to let her pass by.

Faith moved past Willow and up to the spearwomen before pushing past them as she walked towards the black dragon. "You've hurt the woman I love and you've killed and hurt my friends Dragon, now it's your turn!" Even crippled, the dragon was still fast as it brought its head around, opening its jaws and Faith saw the flames shoot out only to stop inches in front of her.

"Thank you Willow!" Faith said before closing with the dragon.

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Willow blocked the dragon fire from reaching Faith and saw her close with the dragon before running towards where she knew Buffy was when a cold feeling ran down her back

"Willow! Get over here, we're losing her!" Willow heard Sachiko yelling.

In a bright flash of light, Willow was across the cavern and by Buffy's side where two of the Healers were frantically working on Buffy. It was then that Willow got her first look at the bloody and broken body of Buffy. Buffy's right arm was slashed open deeply and in two places Willow could see the white of bone peering out. "Goddess no! Not now!" Frantically Willow felt the magical energy flowing beneath the mountains, tapping into it and using her body as a conduit to Buffy's to heal the worst of her injuries but there were so many; a cracked skull, broken ribs that pierced both lungs, the 2nd degree burns on her back. There were so many injuries that Willow wasn't sure where to start first…

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Faith brought the flat of the sword down on the dragon's snout and the dragon roared in pain, ducking under a claw, Faith thrust her sword into the center of the claw and smiled coldly at the dragon's roar of pain before pulling the sword out.

Starting with what seemed to be the worst, Willow first healed the skull fracture and then the pierced lungs and still Willow felt Buffy starting to slip away from them. Next, Willow moved to the deeper and more serious slashes on Buffy's body before finally healing the burns all over Buffy's back. When she was done Willow could still feel Buffy's life-force slowly slipping away from her. Desperate, Willow placed her hands on Buffy's chest, making a direct connection to Buffy and started feeding Buffy her own energy until everything started to turn grey around her. Refusing to let go of Buffy, Willow tried pulling Buffy closer even as someone was pulling them apart. Finally, Willow felt herself pulled free of her hold on Buffy and the connection shattered. "NOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Willow yelled.

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Faith heard the shout 'We're losing her!' before she yelled as she drove the dragon back as it fought to avoid her attacks until she finally left the dragon nowhere to run and as it reared back, Faith shoved the sword deep into the dragon's chest and into its heart. As she ripped the sword free in time to block a claw strike with the sword that was hard enough to push her back a step.

But then Faith saw the dragon's head droop and fall to the ground and lie still. The remaining golden eye dimmed and went dark and a moment later Faith heard the dragon breathe out one last time and then stop. That was when Faith heard Willow yelling "NOOOOOO!" and turned to see something going on over by Buffy. Turning and running as fast as possible, Faith was quickly close enough by Buffy to see 4 Witches holding Willow down and away from Buffy.

Willow saw Faith out of the corner of her eye, "Faith! She's dying and I have to help her!!" Willow yelled, desperate to get free and back to Buffy.

"Aiesha?" Faith asked as she walked over to check on Buffy first.

"She's alive Faith, but I can't tell you more till we get her back home." Turning to look at Willow who had stopped fighting, "Buffy started to slip away and Willow started feeding Buffy her own life-energy to keep her alive, that's when we pulled her off, otherwise Willow would have just kept giving her life-energy away until she was gone. She was so terrified she wasn't thinking straight, go talk to her, tell her Buffy's okay." Aiesha suggested.

Faith looked at Buffy more closely this time and saw the blood and tears all over her clothes, what little remained of them remained and realized she'd been too worried about the dragon to see how badly B had been hurt. Touching Buffy's forehead gently, Faith brushed a lock of hair out of Buffy's face before going over to Willow who had a wild-eyed look on her face.

"Will…Willow! It's okay, B's alive, you did it, but you have to relax." Faith said calmly as she took one of Willow's hands in her own. Seeing no reaction, Faith kept repeating it over and over until she saw Willow finally calm down as it got through to her.

"S-She's okay?" Willow asked hesitantly as she tried to sit up only getting halfway.

"Yeah, Red. B's okay and Aiesha's watching her. Now it's your turn to rest, okay?"

"Okay," Willow said, feeling exhausted as she let herself lean back. Closing her eyes, Willow was asleep in moments.

**End Chapter Ten**

**SA - Second Age**

**Melethron - lover (Sindarin Elvish)**

**River Isen - large river 150 miles West of the Gap of Rohan**

**White Mountains - large mountain chain that runs East-West and lies on the borders of southern Rohan and northern Gondor apart.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Changing Destiny **

**Author's Note – nope, still don't own'em. This chapter is kind of short, but Ch. 12 won't be.**

**Chapter Eleven**

Rainne saw Faith take off and knew only one thing would make her move so quickly. With Buffy, Faith and Sachiko out, that left command to her. Calling the surviving officers over to her, Rainne quickly organized the surviving Slayers, Witches and Healers, having the able bodied start collecting their dead and injured Sisters.

"Tara," Rainne called out to one of her Sisters. "I need a patrol around the entrance to the dragon's lair, I want it strong enough to 'discourage' anyone from coming in here." Rainne waited until the dead and wounded had been collected before walking over to the far side of the cavern where Faith, Willow and Buffy were. Ignoring them, Rainne headed over to Aiesha who was talking with 4 other Witches. "Aiesha, I need a moment." Rainne said, interrupting their talk.

Hiding her irritation at being interrupted Aiesha sent the group to get preparations started for their return. "What's wrong?" Aiesha asked Rainne.

"Nothing, I just need to know how long a return trip is going to take for you to set-up. I have wounded that need tending at the hospital and I need to talk to Galen or Arhilion about what we can do with a Dragon's body, plus there's all that nice little treasure to move, but I think we'll have to do a wagon caravan for that."

"About 2 hours to get everything prepared and cast the Portal spell."

Frowning, "Why so long? It didn't take you that long for the spell to get here." Rainne asked.

"Rainne, we cut so many corners to cast that Portal it's a wonder we didn't wind up entombed inside a mountain or something." Aiesha explained patiently

"Oh," Rainne said as a shiver of cold ran down her back at the thought of being entombed within a mountain.

**Ederian**

**Phaerhuinë's Throne Room**

"Is there any word from them?" Phaerhuinë asked as he paced.

"None as yet, Lord. There has been no activity in Alexandria either, so they have not returned. All we can do is wait."

Arhilion walked into Phaerhuinë's throne room and started past Galengaladh who stopped him with a hand on his arm. Arhilion found himself being pulled aside away from the King and the other Councilors.

"Where have you been Arh? You were called almost 2 hours ago!" Galengaladh hissed at his friend when he noticed the smell of a familiar perfume and his gaze turned angry.

"I'm here, aren't I?" Arhilion said pulling his arm free of Galen's grasp. "Now I need to speak with the King."

"You were with her again, weren't you?" Galen asked, already knowing the answer. "Have you lost your senses? She isn't an Elf and we aren't even allies! Although I'll grant you that in the King's mind that's a different story."

"Maybe I have, if that is what love is! And I love Aiesha! She may look like none of the race of Men, but my heart could not care less. Now I have news for the King..." Arhilion said angrily before walking away. "Lord Phaerhuinë, I have news from the Slayers..."

**Alexandria**

"Aiesha, wait up!""

Stopping, Aiesha turned to see Rasha walking over with an angry look on her face.

"We need to talk, now!" Rasha said as she grabbed Aiesha by the arm and pulling her out of the view of anyone else.

Pulling her arm free when they stopped, "What is it?" Aiesha asked angrily.

"What the fuck was that Elf doing here?"

Deciding not to play dumb, "He was with me." Aiesha said simply.

"Damnit! For the last few months Buffy and Faith were busy tearing bloody strips off of anyone who brought any Elves in here and you act as if it's nothing!"

"Look, who I sleep with is my business!"

"Wrong! Now it's mine! There was a reason they were frowning on any pairings with the Elves for right now, because before everything blew up between Buffy, Faith and Willow, Buffy was talking to Phaer about that. Feeling out how they'd accept any mixed pairings considering we're not even officially linked and here you are shagging Phaer's younger cousin!"

"Well I'd think that Arh and me being together would be a good thing if he comes out and says it doesn't matter."

"BUT YOU DON'T FUCKING KNOW HE'LL SAY THAT!!!" Rasha yelled, furious. Taking a step back Rasha counted to 40 in her mind. "What if he doesn't say that or worse, he denies having a relationship with you at all!"

"He wouldn't do that!" Aiesha said defensively.

"And you're able to read his mind now? Oh wait! I forgot, you're a Witch!" Rasha said sarcastically. "So that means you know everything."

"No it doesn't..."

"Good, then start listening and thinking with your brain instead of your lower parts."

"Fine, but you can't ask me to stop seeing Arh, I love him."

"Alright, but no more sleepovers for either of you! Take it someplace else because I'm not having a huge incident blow everything to hell and a hand-basket because you can't control your libido! Got me?"

**Ederian**

Phaerhuinë kept his face impassive during Arhilion's report of the dragon and Buffy's injuries. "Get Vardathoron, tell her what has happened and to be prepared when Buffy returns." Phaerhuinë ordered one of aides. "Everyone else, out. I wish to be alone." Phaerhuinë ordered and turned his back, his hands clasped tightly behind his behind him.

Laihilion stayed and waited until the door closed before speaking. "Are you okay Phaer?"

"I'm fine." Phaer said harshly, still facing away from his childhood friend.

"When did you realize?" Laihilion asked.

"Realize what?" Phaer snapped.

"That you care about this Buffy."

Phaer whirled around, anger coloring his face and stopped himself from saying something stupid and hurtful to his friend. "Several months ago, not that it means anything or can. Not only is she attracted to women only, she has 2 lovers or will if she survives her injuries."

"You cannot let your attraction to Buffy color your dealings with the other Slayers, especially if she dies and even if she lives she's Mortal, she will eventually grow old and die. Such is the fate of the race of Men."

"Are you counseling me to just ignore my feelings then Lai? I already know this. But what I would give to have such a woman by my side. Intelligent, brave, strong and fearless in battle yet compassionate and unwilling to throw the lives of those she leads away."

"Yes and above all, Mortal. She is 25 years old, she will with good fortune live another 50 years perhaps and before then you will see her weaken and age and whither as time passes while you stay the same. Do you not think she might feel some resentment towards you because of that? You're heart may be telling you one thing, but you're head is telling you the truth, that it can never happen."

"Tell me something I don't know, my friend. Now leave me, I wish to be alone for a while."

**White Mountains**

**Late Afternoon**

Faith had made sure as soon as the Portal was up and running that Buffy and the rest of the injured were the first ones through it. It taken a load of weight from her shoulders knowing that Buffy was back home and being treated. Once that was done Faith turned to her newest headache and growing problem now that word had spread of the dragon's death. Everyone and his mother were rushing here to lay claim to the treasure, only Faith had no intention of giving it up.

The roaming patrol outside had grown from the initial 12 Slayers to a full Company of 150 now guarding the entrance and frankly Faith was tired of playing 'Miss Nice Gal', it was time to take the gloves off.

Walking out of the lair and down the passageway to where Rainne was waiting. "So what's the news?" Faith asked flatly.

"Looks like about 100-150 Orcs right now. We already took care of the ones who tried claiming this was their territory, real ratty looking bunch of men."

Taking a look outside Faith saw the Orcs were in a large knot about 20 yards from the cave entrance. "Is that all?" Faith asked depreciatingly.

Drawing her sword Faith stepped out into the sunlight and drew a line in front of her with the tip of her sword. "Any one of you dung-eating, shit smelling morons who can defeat me gets what's inside." Faith said loudly enough for the Orcs to hear her.

A tall Orc separated himself from the others, he was wearing dirty chainmail shirt that had no sleeves and only covered his chest. "Me Grundall! None who face Grundall live!" Grundall yelled as he drew his bastard sword.

"Well there Gutmeal, if you're man enough, come beat the little girl who's making fun of you."

With an inarticulate yell, Faith watched as Grundall charged her his sword hell high above his head. Faith waited until the last moment before parrying Grundall's sword, shoving it up and plunging her sword straight through the chainmail and into Grundall's heart. Faith ripped her sword free in a spray of blood, stepping sideways to avoid the dead Orc as he fell.

The next three challengers were no more of threat than the first and by the sixth Orc Faith was starting to get bored.

"Okay, since you can't do it one on one. Let's try 2 vs. 1." Faith suggested, "Actually it's a miracle you morons can get breeding right, so hopefully you won't kill me of boredom."

That was when Faith finally saw the response she wanted as 3 Orcs charged her. Grinning madly, Faith let them come to her, parrying the first Orc's attacks before kicking him in the stomach and doubling him over. Faith let go of her sword with one hand and grabbed the second Orcs' sword hand, pulling the sword free and tossing it away before she had to dance sideways to avoid a downswing by the third Orc even as she grabbed her sword. The first Orc was up and had pulled a dagger free and was looking to grapple with her, using his weight to pin her down Faith guessed. Faith let the Orc charge in close with her and at the last moment dropped her sword as her left hand blocked the dagger and she picked the Orc up with the other. With her left hand Faith twisted the dagger around and shoved it into the Orc's stomach and then pulling it up till it hit bone before tossing him into his buddy with the sword.

The second Orc looked scared but charged her anyway and Faith contemptuously parried the Orc's punches before getting behind him and snapping his neck like a dry twig. By the time the third Orc was up, Faith had retrieved her sword again and parried the Orc's sword. Faith let the Orc attack two more times before she got tired and dodged the third attack her sword blurred as it moved, first cutting the Orcs stomach open and spilling his intestines out but her sword was still moving and before he could scream his head was missing from his shoulders.

Spitting on the body, "Anyone else think they're tough enough?" Faith's answer was a mass charge by every nearby Orc. Teach me to keep my mouth shut next time Faith thought to herself and then she was too busy killing. Faith noticed the sword edge glowing a deep blue before she was too busy to think about it any further, surrounded as she was by Orcs.

Faith moved in a complex pattern with each sword stroke leaving an Orc dead or dying. Bringing her sword down, Faith saw it shatter one Orcs' blade like glass before it struck the Orc and he turned into an ice statue. Pausing in surprise for a moment, Faith felt something cut her leg. Turning Faith saw an Orc with a bloody dagger and cut him down a moment later. It was then Faith noticed her Sisters were around her now, killing the Orcs that didn't run and Faith stopped to check her leg out and saw a long cut down her right thigh. Tearing off her right sleeve, Faith used it to make a crude bandage for the cut on her leg. When she was done, the fight was over, the majority of Orcs were dead or dying and the rest had fled.

Faith saw Rainne walking over with an angry look on her face. "Start making markers with the heads and signs. Oh and use the 'Orcicle' as the first marker, then follow up with his buddies heads." Faith said.

"Are you friggin' nuts Faith? Do you have any idea what Willow would do to me if you get killed?" Rainne said angrily, worried for the chance Faith had taken.

"I was working some steam off, you got a problem?"

"Yeah, I do! We've already got Buffy on death's door, are you looking to join her?"

"No, I'm not. I told you, I was working some steam off and those Orcs were conveniently nearby."

"Fine. Do that again and I'll have one of the Witches knock your ass out. We will not lose both of you Faith, not at once."

Faith just walked away, her emotions in turmoil at the thought of losing Buffy and walked back towards dragon's lair. None of the Slayers said anything and stayed out of her way, passing the word down for everyone to steer clear of Faith.

**3 Days Later…**

**Alexandria**

**36 Ethuil (May 3rd), SA 1**

Vardathoron got up from Buffy was lying and left the room to find Willow, Faith and Sachiko waiting for her outside. "She's alive and her body's healing..."

Faith felt her stomach drop at the unspoken 'but' from Vardathoron. "But?"

"I'm sorry, her body is alive for now, but her Essence, what you call her Soul is gone. I don't know where the Souls of Men go when they pass from this Realm."

"She's dead? But Willow brought her back, how can she be dead?!?" Faith asked desperately.

"Willow may have indeed brought Buffy's body back, but her Essence, what you call her Soul, fled at the moment of death. Unless you can reunite her Essence and her body, then soon enough her body will die." Varda bowed and left the women to their grief, she had another unwelcome task ahead...informing Lord Phaerhuinë of this.

**End Chapter 11**


	13. Chapter 12

**Changing Destiny**

Author's Notes – Okay, okay. This is wayyy, long overdue for everyone, my apologies for the long delay, but RL kept interrupting.

**Chapter Twelve**

**Valinor**

Buffy woke up on something wet and the sun in her eyes. Opening her eyes, Buffy saw she was lying on a beach and she could feel tide was coming in as the water washed over her legs, quickly she stood up to avoid getting completely soaked as a large wave brought the water up to her knees before receding. The beach had white sand and what looked like seagulls flew in the air above. When she looked out across the sea all Buffy could see was the blue-green of water all the way to the horizon. "Nothing that way, that's for sure." With that Buffy turned and walked off the beach where it began to rise up until she was standing on grass, a forest lay in front. As she started to walk, Buffy heard a voice. "Hold there!"

Stopping, Buffy's right hand dropped to her side for her sword only to find it was missing. "Shit!" Buffy swore as she looked around for whoever had called her. About 100' feet away Buffy saw a man walking down the beach in her direction. As he got closer, Buffy saw that he was tall and very muscled, but not in a body builder kind of way. The man wore a pair of dark pants with a white shirt that was left mostly open. Buffy saw he wasn't carrying any weapons she could see, but her Slayer senses were telling her this man wasn't what he appeared to be.

Taking a half-step back, Buffy moved into a defensive stance but kept her hands down. "Who are you?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

"A rather odd thing to say, wouldn't you think? Considering you are in my home." Eonwë asked even as he saw how the girl was ready to fight.

"Yeah, well, considering my life, odd is the norm. So you wanna tell me where I am and who you are and how I can get out of here?" Buffy fired off, not liking the feeling her senses were giving off about this guy.

Putting his hands behind his back, "Is it? How strange." Eonwë said, intrigued by this girl who was more than her appearance showed. "I am Eonwë and as for where you are, this is my land you are trespassing on."

"Oh, well sorry about that." Buffy admitted, thinking this Eonwë might not be a Big Bad and he hadn't attacked her yet so that was a plus. "Can you tell me how to get out of here? I need to find my friends, they'll be worried about me, especially...well some more than others."

"Let us walk and talk further. My home is not far from here and perhaps we can divine why it is you have come here by accident and not by design." Eonwë suggested, gesturing back the way he'd come from. Most of the way was walked in silence, but Eonwë learned as much if not more from this girl's silence than if they'd spoken. Eonwë saw quickly that the girl was an experienced warrior; her eyes were always watching the land and skies around her, taking nothing for granted and her right hand was calloused. She had the appearance of a young woman of the race of Men and yet he sensed a darkness in her, but not like that of Morgoth and his minions. It was missing that maliciousness he'd sensed in those that had served Morgoth. All in all, the girl was an interesting puzzle and one that he felt would prove interesting to unwrap.

They continued to walk down the beach for a while until he led her onto the road that would take them to city of Alqualonde. The girl continued to walk in silence, not out of fear, but a genuine comfort with it, a trait that Eonwë found very rarely in others, but it was one he himself prized. Soon enough, Eonwë saw the high towers of Alqualonde ahead. "We are almost there, but you have still yet to tell me your name."

"Buffy Summers," Buffy finally said as she saw the city up ahead. A city unlike any she had ever seen before. Tall graceful, white towers climbed towards the sky were the first thing Buffy noticed. "What is this place? Is doesn't look anything like home or by the Laiquendi..."

"Indeed not, nor will you find it's like anywhere else outside of here." Eonwë explained as he led Buffy down the streets and towards the Meeting Hall.

Buffy followed Eonwë into the rectangular, white stone building and into a large circular room with a dome overhead. At the center of the dome was a large circular section that was opened to allow sunlight to light the room. In the center of the room was a round table with enough chairs to seat a dozen people with benches on the sides to hold more but at the moment the only occupants were herself and Eonwë.

"So now what?" Buffy asked suspiciously, her hands on her hips.

"Sit and rest. I will have some food brought, there are some people I must speak with while you eat and relax."

Buffy heard Eonwë say something else but a flash of blonde hair caught her attention from the hallway they'd just passed through. A sense of familiarity gnawed at her and Buffy took off in a run for where she saw the figure only to find the hallway empty. Looking around Buffy didn't see anyone else and headed back, but the sense of seeing someone familiar stayed with her as she returned to the circular meeting hall.

"So who is it you need to talk to E?" Buffy asked as she walked back into the hall. A few minutes later Buffy saw several servants bring in food and drink, but Buffy hadn't seen Eonwë talk to anyone and wondered how the servants knew what to bring. A rumble from her stomach reminded Buffy that she hadn't eaten in a little while and she sat down at the table where the food was. Buffy saw that the servants had brought a whole chicken, loaf of bread, a bowl of mixed fruits and a pitcher of water. Tearing off a piece of bread from the loaf Buffy was about to eat and stopped as she realized the food could be poisoned, but then why go through all this? She wondered.

Buffy dug into the food and the first thing she noticed was the explosion of tastes that hit her mouth. Buffy knew what chicken tasted like, but this was just amazing! Buffy never noticed when Eonwe slipped out of the room which annoyed her since that was sloppy on her part and mentally berated herself for being so careless. Getting up from the table Buffy started to prowl about the room, looking for anything suspicious or even any weapons she could use if it came to that. With her attention now focused Buffy noticed that she felt a great deal of Power all around her in this city, something that made her nerves stand on edge.

A short while later, Buffy saw Eonwë walk back into the meeting hall and felt Power flowing off of him, unlike when she'd first met him and Buffy wondered why she didn't sense it before. "Have fun?" Buffy asked as she kept her eyes on the entrances to the hall and moved to keep herself from getting too close to any one entranceway.

Eonwë was surprised by the anxious behaviour from this Buffy Summers, if anything her actions reminded him of a wolf as it paced inside a cage and waited to be attacked. Keeping his voice calm, "I spoke with my King who wishes to meet you. So if you are ready we will leave and go to the Ring of Doom."

"You're kidding, right? You expect me to follow you to someplace called the 'Ring of Doom'? Do I look stupid here?"

"It is not named thus because of anything sinister, Buffy Summers. But because of a horrible thing that happened there a great many years ago. Have no fear, you will not be harmed."

"That's good to know." Buffy said sarcastically, "So why do we need to go to this Ring of Doom place exactly?"

Seeing no point in hiding what this girl did not understand or know, "It is the chief meeting place of the Valar and the Maiar. You're arrival was not expected and many things need to be discussed, so that is where we will go."

Buffy saw that her options were rather limited and she suspected if she balked at going they'd use force to take her there anyway, "Alright then. It's not like my calendar today was full anyway."

Alexandria

Misty Woods

Late-Afternoon

Faith waited patiently for Willow for the last 2 hours, but enough was enough and as she was about to storm into the clearing where Willow had been casting her spells to find Buffy's soul had gone to when Faith saw Willow suddenly appear on unsteady legs. Grabbing Willow before she could fall, Faith carefully lowered Willow to the ground. "Willow? What's wrong?"

"Tired. That took a lot more out of me than I expected but I think I found Buffy."

"Really? That's great!" Faith said excitedly.

"But I can't get there without help and you know I can't talk to Aiesha, Robin or any of the other Witches for help. They wouldn't approve of what we…what I'm doing. That means I need you." Willow explained.

Nodding, "That's not a problem, so what do I need to do?" Faith asked, ready to do whatever to get Buffy back.

"I'll explain it over dinner..."

Misty Forest

Nighttime – Moonrise

Faith sat opposite Willow, cross-legged, Faith's hands were held out and holding Willow's as Willow began the spell to call Buffy's Soul back. Faith knew she was supposed to keep her eyes closed and her mind empty, but she couldn't resist the urge to take a peek at Willow. Willow now had a deep green aura surrounding her that was almost blinding and quickly Faith closed her one eye even as an image of Buffy popped into her mind. Buffy was only a few feet away, dressed as Faith had last seen her but her wounds were gone now. There was a strong urge to let go of what she was holding so that she could touch Buffy but Faith fought against it. Image Buffy never moved, but Faith could see the wind blowing her hair and the rise and fall of Buffy's chest.

FAITH!! Concentrate! came a voice unbidden in her head. It's Willow. You have the strongest connection to Buffy, concentrate on your love for her. Willow's voice said patiently. Now think of your connection as a rope that stretches all the way to her. Now, follow that 'rope' all the way back to where Buffy is. Gently, we don't want to break that connection, just follow it back...

[That's easy for her to say, Faith grumbled mentally but followed Willow's directions.

I heard that! came a quick reply.

"There they are! I found them just like this, except Miss Willow was glowing all green around her when I got here." Ben explained to Miss Robin.

Robin looked down at the young Ben Roberts, who was all of 10 years old. "That's okay Ben. It's good you came and told me what you found, now go back home, I'll take care of Willow and Faith." Robin said reassuringly to Ben who she knew had a crush on Willow before returning her attention to the unconscious bodies of Willow and Faith.

"Okay, but will Miss Willow be okay?" Ben asked, worried.

Smiling, "Willow will be fine Ben, don't worry."

As soon as Ben was gone Robin saw Aiesha walk into the clearing with an angry look on her face, at her heels were Sara, Shanaaz and Yellow-Fox from the Coven. "We should get them back to the hospital where we can keep an eye on all three of them…"

"Yes," was Aiesha reply before heading off into the darkness.

"Willow's going to pay hell for this stunt of hers, Ai's really pissed." Sara said in her soft voice.

"Maybe, but we should have realized Willow would try and something like this to get Buffy back, she did do something similar before... Hopefully she can pull it off, save Buffy and not die in the process, because the longer it takes the weaker her body will become." Yellow-Fox said with a worried expression on her face. Nervously she thumbed the war-axe at her side and her long blonde hair which hung down past her waist and back in three thick braids and gave her part of her name.

Frowning, "Well, it's a moot point now Yellow Fox. Whatever she's done, both she and Faith are deep into it…" Robin said as she gazed worriedly at the two unconscious forms of Willow and Faith.

[Damnit!!! Now what? I've followed it and there's no Buffy! Faith thought angrily as she looked around and saw she was standing by two dead trees that were blackened and shriveled.

"I don't know..." Willow's voice came across, dejected. "This should have taken us to Buffy or the other way around."

Angrily Faith stood up only to see she actually was standing next to 2 dead trees[It wasn't a vision or something! But where the fuck am I? Or we? Faith quickly amended when she saw Willow sitting on the ground. "Red, I think we have a problem...we're not in Kansas anymore..."

"Normally we would ask why you are trespassing on the lands of the Valar, but you were expected, although your arrival was later than we thought it would be." A woman's voice said from behind.

Faith heard the voice and whirled around to find a woman about her height, but wearing grey robes and a grey veil that obscured her face. With care, the woman removed the veil and Faith saw she had silver eyes and hair...

"I am Estë of the Valar."

"Where's Buffy?" Faith asked suspiciously.

Holding her hands out before her, "She is well and she waits for you in the Ring of Doom." Seeing the two young women hesitate. "Have no fear, no one will be harmed this night. But you must follow me if you wish to see the woman you love."

Faith wasn't sure about this just on principle but she had to admit, at least to herself, that she only got peaceful vibes off this woman. "Alright," Faith said almost grudgingly. With that, the woman turned and started walking with Faith and Willow following only a few steps behind.

Buffy stood in the center of a massive, underground amphitheater. Beautiful artwork adorned the large dome above and around the entire lower ring of the dome were balls of fire set to illuminate the entire room. Just a few feet away was a large, circular table that had 14 chairs and along the walls were comfortable looking benches for at least twice that number. Along the far wall, Buffy saw a series of beautiful frescoes that told a story that ended with a giant spider and a dark man destroying two white trees. When she finished the story Buffy found herself with a feeling of almost unendurable sadness. The feeling was broken a minute later when Buffy felt a hand on her shoulder. Grabbing the hand and twisting it, Buffy found her hold being broken and an amused Eonwë standing before her.

"What is it?" Buffy asked gruffly to try and hide her momentary weakness in this place. A place that was so thick with Power that it made her feel extremely nervous since the other shoe had yet to fall.

"Your companions have finally arrived and Estë brings them here so we will begin..."

"Begin what?" Buffy asked only to see 6 men and 6 women walk into the amphitheater and take seats at the round table even as at least a dozen others sat down on the side benches.

"Hush Buffy Summers. The Lord of the Winds and the Lady of the Stars come."

Buffy watched as 2 people walked in, a man dressed in sky blue robes and carrying a scepter of some sort along with an almost unearthly beautiful woman by his side. Without any hurry, the two took the final two seats left at the table.

"You should feel honored Buffy Summers, few have seen any of the Valar for untold years and even fewer have seen all of them at once, much less Manwë and Varda." Eonwë explained.

"Gee and here I forgot to pack my ballroom dress!" Buffy tried saying lightly and failing. Just then Buffy heard a voice she thought she'd never hear again, "BUFFY!" Turning around Buffy saw Faith and Willow, but it was Faith who was in her arms a moment later. The two women embracing as if it had been years since they had last seen one another. Kissing Faith all over her face, Buffy punctuated each kiss. "I." Kiss. "Missed." Kiss. "You." Kiss "So." Kiss "Much!"

"How'd you and Willow get, well...here?" Buffy asked finally.

"We were trying to find your Soul and wound up here." Faith answered and saw a look of confusion on Buffy's face. "It's a LONG story B, trust me. Who are those guys?" Faith asked pointing at the circular table. "I get the feeling like I'm about to be judged or something."

Buffy wanted to ask more, but picked up on Faith's subtle warning. "Will?" Buffy asked as she saw Willow walk up nervously. Grabbing Willow's hand Buffy pulled her close to both her and Faith. "You okay Will?"

Nodding, "I'm feeling better," Willow said with a small smile even as her skin prickled with all the Power that filled the room. "So what's going on here?"

"Good question." Buffy said loudly. "Eonwë, so what's the deal here?" Buffy asked as she looked at her guide.

"We are here to find out why and how you came to Arda, Buffy Summers, Faith Lehane and Willow Rosenberg." The large figure in light blue robes said in a loud voice that echoed throughout the chamber.

Moving so she was standing in front of Faith and Willow before saying anything, an action that was not lost on the onlookers. "I'm not 100 sure actually, we, well Willow and the Coven actually, asked the Goddess for help and after 2 years she finally told them what our choices were. So here we are."

"Did She now?" The unearthly beautiful woman asked before glancing at the blue robed man, an inscrutable look in her eyes.

"Who are you people? I know this is Eonwë. But are you like the Powers That Be in this world?" Buffy asked, as she reached behind her and held one hand from Faith and Willow in each of hers.

Standing up and holding his wife's hand as she stood as well. "I am Manwë Sulimo, High King of Arda, Lord of the Winds and this is my wife, Varda Elentári, Queen of the Stars. And you are on the isle of Valinor."

"So, that would mean you're the head honcho of this place?" Buffy asked and felt a squeeze on her hand from Willow, admonishing her silently.

"Yes. But if we are to know all that there is, to the Ring of Doom we must go first." Seeing nods of assent from the other Valar first and with that pronouncement Manwë took his sapphire scepter, banging it on the table twice. There was a bright flash of light that blinded Buffy, Willow and Faith. When their vision finally cleared they were standing on a circular wooden platform high up on a mountainside. In front was another stone table, this one was lavishly designed and glittered from the many precious stones that seemed to shine with a brightness all their own. Twelve of the 14 people were seated at the table, while Manwë and his wife Varda sat upon beautiful thrones that seemed to come out of the rock of the mountain itself. "Know that you are the first of the race of Men to ever see the Ring of Doom. So Buffy Summers, tell me of what brought you to Arda and to ask your Goddess for help to leave your world." Manwë said from his great throne.

Looking at Faith and Willow first, Buffy began the tale at the beginning. Not for them, but the beginning of the Slayer line and explaining why they were needed as well as what their world was first like. It took a while and when Buffy found herself tiring Faith would pick up the story where she left off. Finally, the end of the story, the First Evil, and the activation of all the Potentials up to the War and their escape was told by Willow. When she was done, Willow wiped the tears from her eyes as she re-experienced the pain and loss she thought she'd buried only to be embraced by both Buffy and Faith. All three women held one another, not caring of what anyone else thought, seeking only to give each other support. Finally, Buffy stood up and looked at Manwë. "Well?" Buffy asked harshly, her emotions raw from having the past dredged up again when it should have stayed buried.

"Rest for now. Food and drink will be brought to you. I must speak with Eru about this...we will speak again later Buffy Summers." Holding his hand out towards his wife, Varda reached up and took Manwë's hand before standing and they both walked out.

With his wife beside him Manwë walked to a private garden he used to communicate with Eru and sat down cross-legged in front of the sand garden. At first staring at the swirls of the sand and then letting his mind empty as he reached out to Eru and the answers he needed about those three as well as the possible imbalance they may cause in Arda because of their presence. Soon enough Manwë felt the warm embrace of Eru as he made his presence known. Knowing he didn't need to use words, Manwë opened his mind to share his concerns with Eru about these 'Slayers' and what that could mean for the Song.

Varda saw the others walk into Manwë's garden and understood why, having felt a Call to come here now. Each one sat down or found someplace comfortable to sit and Varda joined them, sitting down next to a tree. In the instant Varda opened her mind she and the others even though she couldn't see them were pulled into a vision of another world.

Manwë saw moving images of a darkened world, ruled by those corrupted like his brother Melkor and only a few Maiar fighting to hold back the darkness from swallowing the world completely. After untold ages passed by, Manwë sensed the world shift and the corrupted Valar and Maiar lost their hold to stay in that world, but they also refused to leave without leaving servants behind to one day bring them back.

The images continued to move by, showing the demons and half-demons left behind to terrorize the race of Men that dominated this world until finally a group of Curunír looked to create a champion to fight back against the demons. Manwë saw they used black and white magick to fuse a demon into a young girl, a child really, and then set it so that each new Champion was cursed the same as the First Slayer. Each girl's destiny was altered so that they would now fight to hold back the darkness the demons strove to bring back. Manwë wept at what he knew the magick would had to have done to that first girl and to someone who was unwilling no less, as was each one of the young girls who in turn took up the mantle of Slayer afterwards.

Manwë saw over time that these Slayers eventually drove the demons back into the darkness of that world, and at no time did they ever surrender or quit, no matter the odds they faced or what needed to be done. For it was their sacrifices that kept their world safe and while others also fought against the demons and died, it was the Slayers who took the brunt of it upon themselves.

An entire history of these Slayers passed before their eyes, each one always ending in death before passing the mantle on. But the Valar also saw what began as a group dedicated to guiding and training the Slayers eventually became corrupted and more concerned with holding their power over the Slayers and controlling them for their own purposes...

Manwë saw the desperate fight against the last of the Fallen Valar, the one that called itself the First Evil and then humanity's violent reaction once they learned of the Slayers. That was when Manwë felt the presence of the last Valar from that world as she heard the cries of her dying Children and reached out to find a home for them. It was then that Manwë knew that Eru had heard the Valar's plea, weakened as she was and granted the Slayers a home here on Arda and their arrival wasn't an accident at all, but instead by Eru's design. Manwë saw the Slayers arrival and their rescue of the Laiquendi who would have been destroyed if not for their intervention.

Opening his eyes, Manwë saw the rest of the Valar in the garden with him and knew what had happened for the first time. Eru had shared this knowledge with ALL of the Valar, something that had never happened before. "So, now you've all seen and know what I do. These Slayers have earned a place of rest when they pass over, just as the Elves," Manwë saw nods of agreement. "Very well then, it is decided." Looking over at Mandos, "We all wondered why these Souls were appearing here on Valinor and now we know. Gather up those that have passed beyond the Veil so that they may go to the Havens we will set aside for them."

"What shall we do with the Three?" Estë asked.

"They have all been allowed here by Eru's Will. It was not the lone Valar of their world that allowed them to travel to Arda, but Eru Himself who allowed it without any interference." Manwë answered. "Let us go greet the Three once again, now that we have all been granted the knowledge by Eru about them and those that came with them to Arda." Manwë commanded and saw nods of assent from the other Valar.

---------

"What do you think is going on?" Willow asked as she huddled close to Buffy and Faith.

"I don't know." Buffy admitted, "But my spidey sense has been going bonkers since I got here. On the bright side though they haven't done anything...yet. Faith?" Buffy asked as she looked over at her.

"Same here, B. They haven't been acting like Big Bad's and they weren't very surprised when Will just popped us into the middle of this huge hall or something."

Both Buffy and Faith sensed when they were headed back before they saw them as they filed silently into the great hall and sat down. "So?" Buffy asked, not liking the silence they were getting. Finally, Buffy saw the one dressed in blue robes stand up

"Greetings again Buffy Summers, Faith Lehane and Willow Rosenberg, and welcome to Valinor. I am Manwë Sulimo, High King of Arda." Manwë said formally as he walked down from his throne towards the three young women. "I know that you have many questions, but I cannot answer them all." Manwë saw a look of anger on Buffy Summers face and held up his hand. "Not because of some ulterior motive, but because some things must reveal themselves over time and at their own pace. Come, if we are going to talk, then let us do so some place comfortable and not standing." Manwë said before leading the 3 women to a side room where there were cushioned and comfortable chairs, a large table with steaming food sat in the center.

Gesturing towards the table and its' contents, "Eat, make yourself comfortable and ask your questions." Manwë said before making his way to his chair and seating himself. Manwë waited as he finally saw the Three start eating. "Then let us begin, 'Why are we here?' is your first question. That is twofold; you came to Arda when the last of the Valar of your world needed a place for you and yours to come to. As for why you are here on Valinor, it was time for you to know how you were changed when you passed through the Gate to Arda." Manwë saw the Three stop eating suddenly, "It was not a harmful change, Young Ones. But you are no longer the same before you came to Arda, whereas once you were of separate Bloodlines; Dagnir and Curunír, that is no more, you are now one Bloodline."

Willow almost dropped the chicken leg in her hand when Manwë dropped his bombshell. "What?!? The same, but...that's...I mean, how?!?" Even as she said it Willow thought back over her actions the last few months... "ButImeanhowcanyoudothat?We'renotthesamesoanddoesthismeani'mgoingtostartwantingfightvampiresand..." Willow's ramble was silence by a pair of lips on her own.

Faith leaned over and kissed Willow on the lips to quiet her, as she leaned back Faith caught a flash of jealousy and hurt on Buffy's face. Faith fought the urge to go over to Buffy, but knew that now wasn't the time for her to do that. Instead Faith took one of Buffy's hands in her own and Buffy entwined their fingers.

"No Willow Rosenberg, you will not want to start fighting vampires or their kind. But in order to survive here you could no longer be two peoples, but 'one'. You had already broken your bonds with your world when the Dagnir, and the Curunír although to a lesser extent, broke their Oath to protect it," Manwë saw the angry outbursts ready to spring from the lips of both Buffy and Faith and raised his hands to stop them. "That is not an accusation; I understand why you did what you did… However, I see that you still do not understand me completely so let me explain further. As you were before you arrived on Arda the Dagnir and Curunír were separate, especially the Dagnir who passed on their gifts randomly, at best. Now that you are one people, your gifts will be passed down from one generation to the next."

Looking over at Buffy and Faith[What truly odd names they have. Manwë thought as an idea occurred to him even as he put it aside to continue telling the Three what they needed to know right now. "You two will also find yourselves drawn to areas other than combat and war as well. You are now more than you once were."

"When can we go back home?" Buffy was the first to ask.

"Soon enough, but there are a few things I need attend to before your leaving," Manwë said, enjoying the dagnir's bluntness.

"And what is it you need to do first?" Buffy pressed even as she felt Faith gently squeeze her hand. "Fine," Buffy said annoyed and backed off the subject after Faith's 'hint'.

"Will we remember this? Any of this or will you have us 'forget' this ever happened?" Willow asked as a suspicion entered her mind.

"You will remember everything, Willow Summers-Lehane. Before you ask, I cannot tell you of the future. But I can tell you that you must let go of the past that you brought through with you here or it will surely rise up to destroy you. Remember that and you will thrive, forget it and you will be no more." Standing up, "I will leave you three alone now." Pointing to a door on the far wall, "A room with a bed has been set for you in there. If you need anything, ring the bell and a servant will answer. I will speak with you further tomorrow." With that Manwë strode out of the room, leaving the Three alone to grapple with what he had told them and 'other' things.

As soon as Manwë was gone Willow punched Buffy in the shoulder with her fist. "Damn you, Buffy Summers! Were you trying to get yourself killed going after a dragon? What is wrong with you?" Willow yelled angrily as she let out all the fear and anger after finding Buffy on death's door.

"Willow, I wasn't looking for a dragon." Buffy said, surprised at Willow's angry outburst. "I thought it was just a demon, honest!" And then Buffy saw the tears running down Willow's cheeks as Willow fell to her knees. Kneeling down, Buffy gathered Willow up next to her and holding her closely. Buffy felt Willow cling tightly to her even as Willow cried out all her anger and fear and worry.

"I felt you dying Buffy and a part of me was dying with you..."

Buffy looked up and saw Faith moving away and signaled her to stop and come over.

"She needs you, B." Faith said as she kept her emotions locked tightly down. "I'll just..."

"You'll just get your beautiful butt over here Faith. I need you...both of you right here with me...Please?" Buffy saw Faith nod and slide down next to them. As soon as Faith was down on the floor, Buffy slid in-between Faith's leg and leaned against Faith even as she pulled Faith's arms around her. For the first time in 6 months Buffy felt at peace.

A few hours later, Buffy was feeling stiff and woke the others while guiding them towards the bedroom. Once they closed the door behind them, Buffy looked over at the giant bed and then over at Willow who was looking a little nervous. "Come on Will, let's strip down and get comfortable." Buffy turned to say something to Faith only to see Faith was already under the bed covers.

Willow shook herself and threw off her nervousness before removing her clothes down to her underwear, leaving them on and sliding into the bed where Buffy and Faith were already waiting for her. Sliding into Buffy's arms, Willow felt Buffy maneuver her against Buffy's very naked body even as one arm draped itself over her stomach.

Buffy snuggled back against Faith's naked body, pulling Willow against her own, a minute later and all three women were asleep together.

Buffy woke up to the feeling of two bodies; one draped over her and the other pressed against her back. Cracking open one eye Buffy quickly enough saw it was Willow that was sprawled almost completely on top of her, which meant that was Faith snuggled against her back and from the rhythm of her breathing… "Morning Faith" Buffy said warmly, feeling totally loved and content enough to never want to move again.

"Morning B, nice pillow you've got there…" Faith said with a grin.

Now it was Buffy's turn to grin right back, "Damn right!" Buffy said just as she felt Willow stir in her arms. "Good morning sleepyhead. Sleep well?"

Willow heard someone talking to her, but it took another minute for her mind to clear out the fog as she finally started to wake up. That was when Willow noticed she was lying sprawled on top of someone who wasn't Faith! "Buffy?" asked Willow.

"Who else?" Buffy said with a 'cat that ate the canary' grin as she looked up at Willow, before Willow could reply there was a soft knock at the bedroom door. "Faith," Buffy said while gesturing with her head towards the door and saw a nod in response. Buffy shifted herself from under Willow and putting herself between Willow and the door while Faith headed over to check it out.

Faith opened the door to see a large platter of food; fruit, bread, butter, cheese and some cold chicken and on top was a note 'Greetings, Enjoy your meal and join us in the meeting hall from last night when you are finished. "Ring the bell when you are ready and Jorla will bring you. – Manwe Sulimo'

Buffy read the note and passed it to Willow, "I guess no lounging around for us." Buffy said with a pout.

"Did you really want to hang out here B?"

"Not really. Just wanted some 'us' time is all. Hasn't been much of that for a while…"

"I think we can arrange something when we get back and you get better…" Faith said, hiding her worried thoughts on that matter.

The three women dug into the breakfast tray and started eating their meal in a companionable silence, no one feeling the need to speak right then, content to be with each other even for something as mundane as a meal together. Dressing when they were finished Willow rang the bell to signal that they were ready. Less than a minute later there was a soft knock before the door opened to reveal a slim, young-looking Elven girl with white hair and violet colored eyes.

"Yes m'lady?" came Jorla's soft voice.

"Take us to the meeting hall, we're ready."

Bowing, "Yes m'lady." Jorla said before leading the three guests back to Manwë's hall.

Willow saw that they were once again led to the ring where they had been yesterday.

"Greetings this morn, Ineldetári," Manwë said as he saw their guests enter the hall.

Buffy's face scrunched up, "Ineda-whatee?"

"Ineldetári. It means The Three in our language." Manwë explained. "When we spoke last night I explained that you were now one bloodline, rather than two. Your arrival here on Arda has altered the Song and it has altered it from what would be to something else. The Song had another plan for the Laiquendi you met at the Misty Mountains, but your arrival and discovery of their home changed that. It shall be 'interesting' to see what other changes shall be wrought by you three and your followers." Manwë paused to take a breath. "Varda…" Manwë said as he sat down.

"Yes my love." Varda said as she stood up and took her place where Manwë had stood. "We shall not see you three here again until you choose to pass the Veil. I have seen many hardships and joys for you Three in the future, your time on Middle-Earth will be difficult and fraught dangers. You and those who came with you will not have to Choose, but your children well and before you leave, we have something we wish to gift you three with." Varda saw that she had all of their attention now. "A necklace, each one crafted to fit your different inner-selves, but that also reflects that you three make a whole." Signaling Telatha who stood to the side and walked over to Buffy Summers first with a black, rectangular jewelry box. "To Buffy Summers, accept this necklace and forever shall you be known to the Valar as Fëaurúva Arnehtar."

Buffy took the box from the young girl and opened the box, inside she saw an elegantly designed, bluish-white necklace with a large blue sapphire the size of a golf ball in the center. The sapphire was cut in an odd shape that caught your eye when you looked at it and Buffy wondered what was missing. Closing the box, Buffy nodded her thanks, finding words could not convey her feelings for such a beautiful gift.

Varda watched as Telatha retrieved the next box before walking back over, this time stopping in front of Faith. "Faith Lehane, with this necklace you will be forever known among the Valar as Ringwën Nuruhuine."

Faith took the black box, opening it. What she saw inside shocked her with its beauty, a necklace made of the same bluish-white metal as Buffy's, similar in style, yet still different. The only similarity was the large sapphire at the center, with the same sense of something missing from the stone. "Thank you," Faith said, genuinely touched by the beauty of this gift.

Varda signaled Telatha who came with the last box and brought it over to Willow, holding it out for her to take. "Willow Rosenberg, with this necklace, now and forever shall you be known to the Valar as Nólawen Curunirína, if you look at the center stone in each of your necklaces I'm sure you've noticed something odd about them. That is because if you put all the sapphires together you will see they form a larger whole, which is what you three do. You all compliment and balance the other in a way that makes you greater as a trinity than as individuals." Varda paused to let that information sink in before continuing, "Together you become the Neldiëitari, the Trinity Queens in your language."

"Does that mean the names you called us mean something other than Faith or Buffy or Willow?" Faith asked before the others.

"Yes. In your case Ringwën, your name would be Cold Death in the language of Men and Elves." Varda replied.

"And Buffy and Will?"

"Fëaurúva or Buffy is a bit more difficult to explain. Her name translates to Fire-Soul and Beloved Slayer. Names among the Valar have great meaning Ringwën, for they reflect the inner essence of that person and in Fëaurúva's case she has a deep and ever burning fire inside her Soul and she is beloved by those that followed her here to Arda, even as she pretends that such is not the case."

"And Willow?" Faith pressed on.

Varda smiled at Willow's 'name', "Nólawen Curunirína or Wise Woman and Witch Queen, for she is first among the line of the Curunír."

"Oh," was Faith's only reply. As strange as the names were, Faith did have to admit that they were pretty much close to the mark in some ways about them all, which also left her feeling naked and exposed that made her very nervous.

"And now you three must go..." Varda started to say.

"Wait!" Willow spoke up suddenly, wanting to know how they were able to use their magick if they were so far from the Goddess of their world. "On our world we called on the Goddess when casting our Greater and Lesser Magicks, yet here on Arda we've still been able to use magick. How is that possible?"

"You no longer need to pray to the Valar you knew as the Goddess in order to cast the Lesser Magicks, Nólawen. That is drawn from the strength of the caster, which is why your Coven, when acting in concert were able to accomplish more. The Gate that brought you here only succeeded because of Eru's permission and the Greater Magicks that can alter Arda are not possible."

"What about all the spells we've cast since arriving here though?"

"Most were Lesser Magicks and none of the Greater, barring the Gate you so recklessly created to get to Fëaurúva in her time of need. The Greater Magicks are still open to you and yours, but only around you, never on a greater scale than that. What you will need to do now is to learn from the Elven mages or you will eventually draw those that seek out magick to you, like flies to a corpse." Varda explained patiently. "The time has come for you to return to your home, when you awaken you will remember this and everything that has come to pass during your stay here. But to the others, it will seem as only a handful of days and not the weeks you have actually been here as time moves differently for us here on Valinor."

Buffy was about to say something when she started to yawn, opening her eyes Buffy saw the wooden ceiling of the hospital and looked around to see she was in one of the private rooms and Willow and Faith were both in beds on opposite sides of her. The memories came back in a rush and Buffy touched her neck only to feel metal, when she looked Buffy saw the necklace the Valar had given her around her neck. Buffy started to move suddenly and sit up only to groan in pain as her shoulder and ribs began to throb.

Willow woke up suddenly and saw Buffy was awake, in the next instant Willow was off her bed and next to Buffy and holding one of Buffy's hands in her own. "Buffy?" Willow said softly, only to sense Faith was awake as well. Looking over Willow saw Faith hovering over Buffy, a worried look on her face that Faith masked when she noticed Willow looking at her.

"Hey beautifuls, how are you two?" Buffy said weakly, her body feeling as weak and helpless as a newborn kitten. "Damn," Buffy cursed as she tried to sit up again.

"None of that B, you almost died on us so I think you're entitled to some to being a little tired and weak." Faith said strongly, as she looked down at Buffy's face, memorizing every little curve.

"How did you...?"

"That's easy B, 'cause that's how I would be feelin' right now if I were in as bad a shape as you are now." Faith leaned down until her forehead was touching Buffy's, "Don't do that again B! I don't think..." Faith started to say before stopping herself from saying anything more.

"I promise not to fight any more dragons," Buffy said solemnly before kissing Faith's lips, enjoying the taste of Faith after so long. Tired suddenly, Buffy closed her eyes. "Will??" Buffy called out.

Willow saw Faith move back to give her room. "Yes??" Willow asked as she moved her face close to Buffy's.

"I love you both you know. Please don't leave me, I don't wanna be alone anymore. I'm sorry I left…" Tears fell from Buffy's eyes only to run down the side of her face.

"No-one's going anywhere Buffy. Promise." Willow said, kissing Buffy gently and feeling the tension slip from Buffy as sleep finally claimed her.

**Here ends of the adventures of Buffy, Willow and Faith in "Changing Destiny"**

**To be continued in Book 3 "Broken Futures"**


	14. Interlude 2

**Changing Destiny**

** Author's note - this is it, the final chapter of Book 2. I want to thank everyone that's stayed along for the ride, I hope you've enjoyed it.  
**

**Interlude 2**

It had taken them only a few minutes to see how word spread of their 'return' and realize that everyone was trying to fit themselves into Buffy's private room. It was then that Faith had taken matters into her own hands and started throwing everyone who wasn't supposed to be in the room…out. That meant only the Healers and Buffy stayed, both Willow and Faith quickly moved outside the hospital before things got too much out of hand.

Willow saw Aiesha and Robin walking over towards them, Aiesha's face was dark with controlled anger and Willow saw Robin was wearing a more neutral mask and steeled herself for the coming confrontation.

"You went ahead and did it? Didn't you!" Aiesha asked accusingly as soon as she was close enough.

"Do you mean did I summon Buffy's Soul or something else?" Willow asked calmly in the face of Aiesha's anger. With a gesture Willow told Faith to stay out of this.

"Then you admit it? You broke a sacred law of Balance, Priestess." Aiesha said formally. "You know what that means…"

"I admit nothing. I will speak to the Coven at moonrise tonight about what happened and what this means for us as well." Willow replied just as formally.

With Willow's answer Aiesha stared at her hard for a minute before stalking away.

"Don't take it personally Willow. You know how touchy Aiesha is about anyone playing around with the Balance of Life." Robin offered. "It is damn good to see you though. After you and Faith disappeared it threw everyone for a loop, no-one knew what to do. Buffy was in a coma and with you two gone suddenly…"

Willow exhaled softly, "Yeah, I can bet it did. It wasn't exactly what I planned on either, but it worked sort of, we did find Buffy…"

"Yeah, I can see that. I'm looking forward to hearing what happened though."

**Moonrise**

Willow finished telling her story of how she and Faith got Buffy back and what they'd found out while they were on Valinor and looked around the Circle to the six Senior Witches of the Council. To Willow's relief she only saw nods, the last person to cast her vote was Aiesha and Willow waited, certain she'd done the right thing this time. Finally, Willow saw Aiesha nod.

Standing up and looking around the Circle at the other Witches, "The Vote has been made and is unanimous." Aiesha said without a smile. Aiesha walked over to Willow, stopping directly in front of her. "Welcome back Priestess." Aiesha said smiling now.

"Thank you, it's good to be back."

**One Year Later…**

**42 Ethuil (May 8****th****), SA 2**

Sachiko watched with a great deal of amusement as Buffy nervously paced back and forth in her clothes. Dressed in a long, snow-white skirt that was down to her ankles, but was cut so that it showed off most of Buffy's right leg from her mid-thigh down, a white sleeveless vest with a low collar and tied over her stomach and left a generous amount of her breasts showing finished Buffy's outfit. "You can relax any time Buffy. They already said 'yes'."

Buffy stopped her pacing to give 'Chiko a cold stare. "Bite me. Besides, we'll just see how calm and relaxed you are when it's your turn on this side of the altar." With that Buffy started her pacing once again.

"Never gonna happen there Buff. I'm not a 'settling down' kinda gal and I haven't found the man or woman that'll make me change my mind either."

"We'll see," Buffy said and with that pronouncement Buffy heard the music start and straightened her clothes for any imaginary wrinkles for the millionth time in the last hour. Pushing the curtain aside Buffy walked out into the sunlight open glade, ahead of her Buffy saw Willow waiting for them. Glancing to her right, Buffy saw Faith across from her. Faith was dressed in a pair of form-fitting black slacks, a v-necked black shirt with long sleeves and Elvish designs in silver danced on the front and back of the dark green vest she wore over the shirt. Willow had thrown a fit over Faith's desire to wear black and Buffy had expected a war to start when Faith declared 'I ain't a virgin and I ain't pretending to be one, so stop trying to get me to wear white!' Faith's reply had effectively ended the discussion as Willow sat close-mouthed after Faith's outburst.

Buffy continued walking until both she and Faith were now side-by-side as they walked towards Willow who was waiting for them inside a large circle made of crystals with a small altar in the center of the circle where Aiesha stood dressed in her formal White Priestess' dress. Both Buffy and Faith stopped before the circle.

"Who are you and why do you come here this night?" Aiesha asked as she stood in front of the two who sought to enter the Circle.

"My name before was Faith Lehane, now I am Ringwën Nuruhuine. I come with open hands and heart to marry the woman we both love." Faith answered and saw a small smile on Aiesha's face that was quickly covered up.

"And you?" Aiesha asked as she turned her head to look at the second petitioner.

"I was born Buffy Anne Summers, but since then I am also known as Fëaurúva Arnehtar and I have come here to marry both women that I love."

"Then enter Buffy Anne Summers and Faith Lehane."

Buffy and Faith walked to the Inner Circle where Willow stood in front of the Altar and took their places on opposite sides of the Altar, Aiesha joined them a minute later opposite Willow.

"Blessed be all who attend this glorious celebration, and blessed be those about to be united in the bonds of love." Aiesha said loudly. Picking up a censor with incense already burning inside Aiesha turned to her left so she was facing East and spoke out loud;

"Hail to thee, I call upon the Gryphon and Guardian of the Watchtower of the East.

Watcher and master of the Eastern Winds and the Spring.

Come and join us at this Circle.

I call and stir you up, bring your astral winds and grant us thy presence and thy blessing.

Come and be welcome in this our rite.

Seal, Make Fast and Guard this Holy Place.

Blessed be."

As she finished the invocation Aiesha drew symbol in the air that glowed Yellow before fading. Hiding her surprise, Aiesha placed the censor back on the Altar and picked up a candle facing South;

"Hail to thee, I call upon the Phoenix and Guardian of the Watchtower of the South

Watcher and master of the South wind, be with us in passion and in truth,

Bring us the warmth of the hearth fire and the summer sun.

Come and join us at this Circle.

I call and stir you up, bring your bellowing fires and grant us thy presence and thy blessing.

Come and be welcome in this our rite.

Seal, Make Fast and Guard this Holy Place.

Blessed Be."

Aiesha drew the symbol for Fire that glowed Red before fading and the candle wick started to burn, Aiesha felt her heart speed up slightly at this, but turned around back to the Altar, putting the candle down and picking up the silver bowl that was filled with water and facing West.

"Hail to thee. I call upon the Unicorn and Guardian of the Watchtower of the West.

Watcher and master of the Western wind, be with us in feeling and in vision,

in the evening tide's mystery and the upwelling autumn dreams.

I call and stir you up, bring your cycling tides and grant us thy presence and thy blessing.

Come and be welcome in this our rite.

Seal, Make Fast and Guard this Holy Place.

Blessed Be."

Preparing herself Aiesha drew the Symbol for Water in the air before her, watching the Symbol burn Blue before fading like the others. Her hands slightly shaking Aiesha returned the bowl to the Altar before picking up the final Symbol, a bowl of salt and turned to face North;

"Hail to thee. I call upon the Dragon and Guardian of the Watchtower of the North.

Watcher and master of the North wind and ruler of all winds,

Dwell here with us in this holy place, be with us in solid strength and permanence,

the safe womb of night and the slow movement of winter.

I call and stir you up, bring your enduring strength and grant us thy presence and thy blessing.

Come and be welcome in this our rite.

Seal, Make Fast and Guard this Holy Place.

Blessed Be." Aiesha intoned as she drew the final symbol for the Circle only to see it burn Black. [This is not supposed to be happening! Aiesha's mind yelled at her. "East, South, West, North. Gryphon, Phoenix, Unicorn, Dragon. We have called on the Guardians this evening and they have answered." Aiesha managed to say even as she replaced the bowl on the altar and walked around to stand in front of the three.

Aiesha looked intently into the eyes of each of the three that stood before her, "Know now before you go further, that since your lives have crossed in this life you have formed ties between each other. As you seek to enter this state of matrimony you should strive to make real the ideals which give meaning to both this ceremony and the institution of marriage. With full awareness, know that within this circle you are not only declaring your intent to be handfasted before your friends and family, but you speak that intent also to your creative higher powers. The promises made today and the ties that are bound here greatly strengthen your union; they will cross the years and lives of each soul's growth.

Do you still seek to enter this ceremony?"

"Yes, we seek to Enter." Buffy, Willow and Faith answered as one.

"Very well. In times past it was believed that the human soul shared characteristics with all things divine. It is this belief which assigned virtues to the cardinal directions; East, South, West and North. It is in this tradition that a blessing is offered in support of this ceremony.

Blessed be this union with the gifts of the East. Communication of the heart, mind, and body, fresh beginnings with the rising of each Sun. The knowledge of the growth found in the sharing of silences.

Blessed be this union with the gifts of the South. Warmth of hearth and home. The heat of the heart's passion. The light created by all of you to lighten the darkest of times.

Blessed be this union with the gifts of the West. The deep commitments of the lake, the swift excitement of the river and the refreshing cleansing of the rain. The all encompassing passion of the sea.

Blessed be this union with the gifts of the North. Firm foundation on which to build Fertility of the fields to enrich your lives. A stable home to which you may always return.

Each of these blessings from the four cardinal directions emphasizes those things which will help you build a happy and successful union. Yet they are only tools. Tools which you must use together in order to create what you seek in this union. Join your left hands together," Aiesha ordered and saw all three women place their left hands over the other with Buffy's on the bottom, followed by Willow in the center and Faith top-most.

"I bid you look into each others' eyes. Fëaurúva Arnehtar – Buffy Anne Summers," Aiesha said as she turned to her right to face Buffy, "Will you have Nólawen Curunirína – Willow Danielle Rosenberg and Ringwën Nuruhuine – Faith Lehane to be your partners?"

"Yes," Buffy answered.

"Fëaurúva, will you cause the women you love pain?"

"I may." Buffy replied.

"Is that your intent?"

"No."

"Will you share their pain and seek to ease it?"

"Yes."

Satisfied with Buffy's answers Aiesha turned so she was now facing Willow, "Nólawen Curunirína – Willow Danielle Rosenberg, you have heard the words of Buffy Anne Summers. Is it your wish to be joined with Fëaurúva Arnehtar and Ringwën Nuruhuine as your partners?"

"Yes, will all my heart, yes." Willow said emphatically.

"Very well Nólawen, Willow, will you cause the women you love pain?"

"I may."

"Is that your intent?"

"No, never."

"Will you share their pain and seek to ease it?"

"Yes." Willow said as she clutched Buffy's hand tightly.

"Very well," Aiesha said turning at last to Faith. "Ringwën Nuruhuine – Faith Lehane, you have heard the words of Buffy Anne Summers and Willow Danielle Rosenberg. Is it your with to be joined with them as your partners?"

"Yes."

"Ringwën, Faith…will you cause the women you love pain?"

"Probably," Faith answered, knowing the answer was really a 'yes'.

"Is that your intent?"

"Never," was Faith's strong reply.

"Will you look to share their pain and seek to ease it?"

"Always," Faith said.

"And so the first Binding is made." Aiesha said as she draped a yellow cord over their arms and tied it loosely. "Fëaurúva, will you share laughter with Ringwën and Nólawen?

"Always,"

"Will you temper your words and actions with love?"

"Yes." Buffy felt her eyes start to water, but made no move to wipe her eyes.

Aiesha looked at Nólawen and Ringwën in that order, repeating the same questions to them and getting similar replies. "And so the second Binding is made." Aiesha announced as she draped a red cord over their arms before loosely tying it.

"Fëaurúva, will you face times of darkness and light, happiness, sorrow and hardships with your partners, Ringwën and Nólawen?" Giving them your love, your strength and support?

"Always."

Aiesha turned to face Willow, "Nólawen, will you face the times of darkness and light, happiness and sorrow with equal passion and strength with Fëaurúva and Ringwën? Giving them your passion, your love and strength?

Willow looked over at Buffy and Faith before answering, "Yes," was all Willow could say feeling overwhelmed with so many emotions right now.

"Ringwën, will you…"

"Yes," Faith said cutting Aiesha off before she could finish. "I'll be there for them…"

Coughing mentally, "Very well. Then let the third Binding be made." Aiesha said as she draped a green cord over their wrists, tying it loosely. "The ties of this binding are not in the cords around your wrists, but in the vows you have made here this day. Any of you can break your vows as easily as the cords that bind your wrists for they are but a tangible reminder of the vows you made. It is within your power, each of you, as all of you can either hold the making or breaking of this union." Slowly, Aiesha looked at each of the women in front of her in turn, seeing the joy in their eyes as well as the understanding of what she'd said to them. Taking a deep breath first Aiesha paused before continuing, "Each of you are strong women and strong willed, each one knows their heart and mind and each of you are stubborn in your own way, for an individual this can be a good thing, but that very virtue can easily become a weapon that will injure those you love. A marriage between three people is a beautiful but a difficult thing; it is a flower that requires love, attention and care, but without those things it will soon wither and die. For your three, you will find this to be more so."

Looking at each of the three women in front of her, "Do not misunderstand me, I do not seek to frighten any of you, but I also know all of you. Nólawen – Willow, I have known you for many years and I am happy to call you my friend. When you do something, you do so whole-heartedly, throwing all of yourself into whatever goal it is you have set your mind on and while that single-mindedness can be a blessing, it also makes you blind sometimes to others around you and their feelings."

"Ringwën – Faith, your greatest strengths lie in the strength of your will and your passions and emotions that drive you through life. But it is those same passions that can destroy you and those dearest to you if you allow them to rule you as they once did."

"Fëaurúva – Buffy. You share with Faith the strength of your will, the unshakeable belief in what you are doing, regardless of what you face and a fear of the same passions within you that once controlled Faith. You three are all blessed individually, together however, you create a sum that is greater than the parts... and with that warning there is only one thing remaining, the final Blessing." Signaling to Meredith to come forward with the three necklaces, Aiesha began again. "You three have given your oaths and promises before both the Goddess and the Guardians this day. Now we will have an outward sign of your promises to one another today. Meredith…"

Meredith heard her cue and stepped forward with the first necklace, stopping next to the High Priestess who was standing in front of Willow.

"Step forward Willow," Aiesha said as she picked up Willow's necklace. "Willow Danielle Rosenberg, who is also Nólawen Curunirína, let this necklace be a physical reminder of both your vows this day and a sign to any who see it of the love you hold for your wives." Turning slightly Aiesha handed the necklace to Faith who was waiting and took the necklace in her own hands.

"Willow, I haven't known you as long as B and I'm pretty sure you'd like to forget when you did meet me, but I don't. When I met you you were this nerdy little red-haired girl and I figured you were just a flunkie, then 'after', when I woke up you weren't this nerdy girl anymore, you'd gone and changed." Faith saw Willow's blush, "I'm not perfect or even close to it Willow, I can be a serious bitch some times, just ask B." Faith caught the ever slight movement on Buffy's face as she hid the smirk as it touched her face. "I do know one thing though, you're as important to me in my life as B…Buffy is and I can't imagine not having either of you beside me. Will you do me the honor of being my partner and my lifemate?" Faith asked the last almost hesitantly.

"Yes." Willow replied with tears shining in her eyes as she lowered her head slightly while sweeping her long hair to the side as Faith slide the necklace around her neck and closed the clasp. As soon as it was around her neck Willow felt a slight tingling from the metal which was already comfortably warm against her skin.

Now it was her turn and Willow turned to her left to face Buffy. "Buffy Summers, when I first met you I never could understand why someone as beautiful and bound to be popular would want to talk to me, much less ask me for help. Then I learned about vampires and the other nasties that exist and how it was your job to fight them alone and I knew I couldn't just walk away or pretend to forget what I knew. For seven years it was the scariest, most exhilarating times of my life. I learned about magick and that I had a talent for it, that I was gay and then I met one of the most beautiful souls, Tara Maclay and we fell in love. Even when we seemed to drift apart in our friendship I never doubted that you would be there for me if I needed you and you were, but I found my own darkness after Tara died and after everything you refused to give up and still let me back into your life after I came back from England." Willow paused to collect herself as all her emotions were bubbling through her and threatening to overwhelm her.

"While I was away in England the Coven made me come to grips with a few things I'd been hiding from, one of which was that for seven years I'd been lying to myself about you." Willow saw a look of alarm pass through Buffy's eyes before it was masked and took both of Buffy's hands in her own. "The lie was that I'd been denying I cared about you more than a friend, that I loved you. Even when I was with Tara I held some little piece of myself back from her and I think she knew the truth of how I felt about you but I still couldn't admit it out loud. But I'm going to here. Buffy Anne Summers, I love you. I have loved you and I will always love you." To everyone's surprise as Willow kneeled down in front of Buffy, "Will you marry me Buffy? For better or worse?"

Buffy had listened to Willow and was just as surprised as everyone else when Willow knelt down before her and asked Buffy to marry her. Gently, Buffy picked Willow up. "How could I say no when I love you just as much Willow?" Buffy knew the script for the ceremony had just gone out the window and couldn't have cared less right now.

"Willow, I don't' know when I first realized I was in love with my best friend, that'd be you by the way," Buffy said with a little grin before becoming serious again, "but I know I tried long and hard to fool myself as to why you were so important. When the Mayor had you I would have given him the world if it meant you'd be safe because nothing else was important if you weren't there to share it with me. I've been alone a lot or I kept those that I said I cared about at a distance, keeping whole parts of myself separate from them this way when the left it wouldn't hurt so much. Willow, I'm asking you to be my friend, my lover, my sounding board, my partner in everything, parts you've already had, but now I want all of that together in one lump as my wife."

Willow gulped, even as she already knew the answer, all of her emotions felt like they were on overdrive right now and one word was all she could manage to get out. "Yes." Willow saw Buffy lean forward slightly, sweeping her hair to the side as Meredith stepped forward, handing her Buffy's necklace. With shaking hands Willow managed to finally close the clasp at the back of Buffy's necklace before stepping back a step.

"Faith, when we first met you were probably the last person I ever thought I would fall in love with. I wasn't gay, you were a girl and you were so insanely confident about everything, whatever you saw and wanted you went after. None of which was like me at all, Miss Repressed, there was so much I was attracted to you and terrified of and then when…with the Mayor…and the fight on the roof. We both screwed things up between us so many times, especially me since I kept trying to drive you away from me so I wouldn't have to look closely at why I was treating you the way I was. I know we put this behind us, but I've never said I'm sorry for how I treated you…" Buffy was stopped from saying anything more when Faith touched her lips with her fingertips.

"You just did B. It's over, behind us and forgotten."

"I love you. Marry me, warts and all?"

"Forever B. Forever."

Buffy saw Aiesha with Faith's necklace and took it from her, putting it around Faith's neck with nervous fingers.

"You have spoken your vows of love and promises to one another and before the Guardians this day. Turn and face those friends and family who have come to witness this blessed event this day." Stepping around so that she stood in front of the three. "Ladies and Gentlemen, you have heard their expressions of love now please greet them for the first time. Let me introduce the three brides; Buffy Summers-Lehane, Willow Rosenberg-Summers and Faith Lehane-Summers-Rosenberg."

The three women stepped forward to a thunderous applause as they headed over to their guests who showered them with rice and flower petals…

**Mordor**

A dark figure crawled into the mouth of a cave bearing deep wounds even as he swore revenge on the Valar for their interference in Morgoth's plans here on Middle-Earth. He would finish what his Master had begun and not even the Valar would stop him from ruling Middle-Earth…

**And so Ends Book 2 – Changing Destiny and the adventures of Buffy, Faith and Willow. **

**To be continued in Book 3 – Broken Futures…**


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